Dear Friends,
 
We enclose the text of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which was approved on Thursday in the UN General Assembly. Of 192 countries, 143 voted in favour, 11 abstained and four voted against (USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). After more than 20 years of existing as just a proposal within the UN, the approved declaration recognises and supports the right to "self-determination" in the spirit of coexistence, right to mutual benefit and full respect, and the right to posess "lands, territories and resources which were traditionally theirs" or which have been bought, used or aquired. The Declaration supports the right of indigenous peoples to access to natural resources in these territories, to preserve traditional knowledge and to self-determination, prohibiting the installation of military bases and or the disposal of toxic wastes in their territories, amongst other things.
 

This is an historic act of global importance at a moment of crisis in paradigms which gives space to a practiced vision of indigenous cultures and local communities which has been preserved, against the advance of a system of unequal accumulation of wealth and the depradation of nature.  It is a vision which gives importance to the care of nature, solidarity and reciprocity between communities. Even though it does not have a binding nature judicially, it is an important step for advancing struggles for changing this world, properly respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and recovering the wisdom of these peoples in order to restore balance with nature and a respect for human rights.

 

We salute this historic act and express our support for the indigenous peoples of the world as they continue to realise their rights and contribute to global society by transforming a model which has been characterised by denial of cultural diversity with the aim of commodifying and winning profits at the cost to people's resources.

 

With a warm greeting of solidarity,

Elizabeth Peredo
Directora Ejecutiva
Fundación Solón


Declaration in English: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html