US Human Rights Record Challenged

[Judi Lynn]

US Human Rights Record Challenged
Valerie Taliman President, Three Sisters Media and Race-Talk contributor
Posted: March 22, 2010 05:05 AM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Where do Indian nations go when United States' courts have failed them, and justice is unattainable?

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy - the oldest continuous democratic government in North America - has long argued that Indian nations should not expect to win justice from colonizing governments, and instead must act as sovereign nations taking their quest for justice to the United Nations and its human rights mechanisms.

Though it claims to be a defender of human rights around the world, the United States is among the worst offenders of Native peoples' rights, judging by statistics that indicate Indian women are the most raped and abused in the nation, while rampant poverty, disease, crime and unemployment are a way of life on reservations.

There's also the inexplicably high number of Supreme Court cases decided against tribes that have led to the massive loss of Native lands and natural resources, most often without compensation.

That negative image was bolstered during the Bush regime when the U.S. was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Council, and later was one of only four countries to oppose the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration was adopted in September 2007 with 144 states in favor, 11 abstentions, and only four votes against - by the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - countries with the largest indigenous populations who own vast amounts of land and natural resources.

Since its adoption, Australia has reversed its position and endorsed the Declaration, while Canada, Colombia and Samoa have recently indicated support.

That leaves the United States and New Zealand standing alone, refusing to support the basic human rights of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-taliman/us-human-rights-record-ch_b_507864.html