National Tribal Environmental Council

Reposted from The Arctic Sounder, June 7th

U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, will hold an oversight hearing Thursday titled, "Setting the Standard: Domestic Policy Implications of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," a press release from Akaka's office said.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the United States joined in December of last year, encourages nations to support self-determination, eliminate discrimination, and work to secure the rights of their indigenous peoples.

The declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of the world's estimated 370 million indigenous people - including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians - including the right to perpetuate their culture, identity, and language, and their rights relating to employment, health, education, and other issues.

Thursday's hearing will explore the declaration as an international policy goal to which the United States is signatory. Witnesses from the U.S. Department of Interior, the United Nations, the indigenous art community, the Indian Law Resource Center, and several American Indian Tribes will discuss how existing domestic policy achieves the declaration's goals and what additional considerations are needed to make the United States a world leader in implementing the declaration and addressing indigenous rights.

The declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, with 143 nations in favor, 11 abstentions, and four votes against - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. All of the opposing countries have since reversed their position and support the declaration. President Barack Obama announced the United States' support of the declaration on December 16, 2010.

DETAILS

WHO:     Chairman Daniel K. Akaka, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

WHAT:     Oversight Hearing:  "Setting the Standard: Domestic Policy Implications of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples"

WHEN:     2:15 p.m., Thursday, June 9, 2011

WHERE:     628 Dirksen Senate Office Building

WITNESS LIST

PANEL 1

• Donald "Del" Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior

PANEL 2

• Robert T. Coulter, Executive Director, Indian Law Resource Center, Helena, MT
• Ryan Red Corn, Filmmaker / Member, 1491s, Pawhuska, OK
• James Anaya, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations, Tucson, AZ

PANEL 3

• Fawn Sharp, President, Quinault Indian Nation, Taholah, WA
• Frank Ettawageshik, Executive Director, United Tribes of Michigan, Harbor Springs, MI
• Duane Yazzie, Chairperson, Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, Window Rock, AZ
• Melanie Knight, Secretary of State, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Tahlequah, OK