[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 712 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 712

  Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous 
  Peoples and commending the United Nations General Assembly for its 
           adoption of the Declaration on September 13, 2007.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 4, 2007

Mr. Faleomavaega submitted the following 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous 
  Peoples and commending the United Nations General Assembly for its 
           adoption of the Declaration on September 13, 2007.

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;
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, 2 in the 
        negative, and 12 abstentions;
Whereas, on September 13, 2007, by a vote of 143 in favor to 4 against, with 11 
        abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly in its 61st session, 
        adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and
Whereas, by virtue of this historic document, the United Nations General 
        Assembly affirmed several guiding principles for recognizing, promoting 
        and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, and setting a viable 
        framework for continuing dialogue: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) 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; and
            (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.
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