[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 23, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43829-43830]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-20891]



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DEPARTMENT OF STATE IN CONJUNCTION WITH DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Public Notice 2243]


Participation in Working Group To Elaborate a U.N. Declaration on 
Indigenous Rights

    The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations has 
approved establishment of an open-ended, inter-sessional working group 
of the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration on 
indigenous rights. The goal of the Working Group is to prepare a 
declaration for consideration and adoption by the General Assembly 
during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1994-
2004). [The Working Group will consider the draft prepared by the 
independent experts who comprise the Working Group on Indigenous 
Populations, which is entitled ``United Nations draft declaration on 
the rights of indigenous peoples.'']
    ECOSOC also approved adoption of a special procedure to authorize 
participation in the Working Group by organizations of indigenous 
people, including tribal governments, not in consultative status with 
ECOSOC. Interested organizations should apply to the Coordinator of the 
International Decade at the following address: The Honorable Ibrahima 
Fall, Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, Human Rights 
Center, Office of the United Nations in Geneva, Palais des Nations, 8-
14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
    Applications must include the following information about the 
organization concerned:
    (a) The name, headquarters or seat, address and contact person for 
the organization;

[[Page 43830]]

    (b) The aims and purposes of the organization (these should be in 
conformity with the spirit, purposes, and principles of the Charter of 
the United Nations);
    (c) Information on the programs and activities of the organization 
and the country or countries in which they are carried out or to which 
they apply;
    (d) A description of the membership of the organization, indicating 
the total number of members.
    The Coordinator of the International Decade will promptly forward 
all applications, and any information received from the State 
concerned, to the Council Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations 
for its decision.
    Negotiations on the text of the declaration are tentatively 
scheduled for two weeks in November 1995 in Geneva, Switzerland. In 
order to provide adequate time for processing applications, the United 
Nations Secretariat has requested that they be submitted by August 31, 
1995.
    Authorization to participate will remain valid for the duration of 
the Working Group, subject to relevant ECOSOC procedures. Organizations 
of indigenous people authorized to participate will have the 
opportunity to address the Working Group, consistent with relevant 
ECOSOC procedures, and are encouraged to organize themselves into 
constituencies for this purpose. Such organizations may make written 
presentations, but they will not be issued as official documents.
    The Human Rights Commission, a subsidiary body of ECOSOC, 
encourages the Working Group to consider all aspects of the draft 
declaration, including its scope of application. Hence, participation 
by an organization in the Working Group would not necessarily mean that 
the people represented by it would be covered by all aspects of the 
declaration or, similarly, that people not represented would not be 
covered by the declaration. The United States has encouraged other 
governments to also consider the benefits of broad participation.
    Tribal governments and other organizations of indigenous people can 
play an important and useful role in development of the declaration. 
While the declaration would be politically, not legally, binding it 
would represent the first comprehensive U.N. statement on indigenous 
rights and on the nature of the relationship between indigenous 
communities and the governments of the States in which they reside. 
Moreover, other countries appear interested in learning more about 
self-government by Indian tribes and Alaska Natives within the United 
States.
    For further information, please contact Tom Hushek, Bureau of 
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, telephone: 
(202) 647-3892.

    Dated: August 17, 1995.
Josiah Rosenblatt,
Director, Office of Multilateral Affairs, Bureau of Democracy, Human 
Rights and Labor.
[FR Doc. 95-20891 Filed 8-22-95; 8:45 am]
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