[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 156 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 156
Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and urging the United States Ambassador to the United Nations
General Assembly to adopt without amendment the Declaration as approved
by the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 29, 2006.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 23, 2007
Mr. Faleomavaega submitted the following concurrent resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to
the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and urging the United States Ambassador to the United Nations
General Assembly to adopt without amendment the Declaration as approved
by the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 29, 2006.
Whereas, since 1982, indigenous rights leaders and human rights supporters have
actively worked on drafting a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples for consideration by the United Nations as an important
statement of international law and policy;
Whereas the social, cultural, and political rights of the approximately
300,000,000 indigenous peoples throughout the world have been in urgent
need of clarification due to the collective nature of their rights, in
contrast to the individual rights protected under the Human Rights
Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948;
Whereas indigenous peoples of the world share a common characteristic in that
their societies are formed by their connection to the lands of their
ancestors from time immemorial, such connections serving as the source
of their culture, traditions, beliefs, knowledge systems, and social
values as collective or tribal peoples;
Whereas countries throughout the world have struggled to accommodate the
strivings of their indigenous peoples to preserve the cultures,
traditions, and ways of their ancestors by preserving and maintaining
societies that remain separate physically, culturally, and socially from
the dominant societies that prevail in each such country;
Whereas the principle of self-determination has emerged as the common cause and
aspiration of all indigenous peoples in order that they might define and
negotiate a relationship and a separate space within the larger society
and country within which they are located, including the preservation of
their ancestral lands, their indigenous language and culture, and the
right and ability to govern themselves free of oppression and undue
pressures to abandon their traditional ways and assimilate into the
larger society;
Whereas of all the countries throughout the world and among Member States of the
United Nations, the United States has maintained an exemplary body of
law and policy towards its indigenous peoples, the 562 United States
Tribal Nations located in the lower 48 states and Alaska, which laws and
policies have recognized for over 200 years an inherent right of self-
governance, have resulted in the negotiation of over 500 nation-to-
nation treaty agreements, 350 of which have been solemnly ratified by
the United States Senate, and have, since 1975, successfully implemented
a policy of self-determination that explicitly supports the exercise of
tribal self-governance and economic and social sustainability of United
States Tribal Nation societies;
Whereas, in 1982, the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights formed a
working group charged with drafting a Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples;
Whereas, in 1993, the draft Declaration was reported to the General Assembly and
was debated and deliberated upon until the fall 2006 session, with a
majority of Member States voting to table the Declaration until their
Fall 2007 session in order to afford Member States more time to study
and consider the Declaration; and
Whereas, on June 29, 2006, after more than 24 years of effort, the Working
Group, indigenous peoples of the world, and their supporters obtained
official adoption of the Declaration by a majority vote of the United
Nations Human Rights Council during their inaugural meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland, with 30 Member States voting in the affirmative, two in the
negative, and 12 abstentions: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That--
(1) Congress finds that the relationship between the United
States and the indigenous peoples of the United States, the
United States Tribal Nations, grounded in the United States
Constitution and implemented through numerous Indian treaties,
Federal statutes, and policies, may be considered a model by
other countries in the world in recognizing and upholding the
precious rights of self-determination and self-governance;
(2) notwithstanding the recognition and protection afforded
United States Tribal Nations under United States law and
policy, the interests of such tribal nations may be further
advanced and protected in important ways by adoption of the
Declaration in that United States Tribal Treaty rights,
cultural rights, and principles of self-determination will be
validated and affirmed as United States policy, thus protecting
such rights on an international level; and
(3) Congress hereby recommends that the United States
Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly affirmatively
support the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
when it comes before the General Assembly during their Fall
2007 session.
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