Video (6min 57sec) On Sept. 13, the United Nations overwhelmingly passed a resolution of tremendous importance to the indigenous people of the world, but did
you hear about it?
Chief
Oren Lyons, faithkeeper and chief of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga
people, was in Taos Saturday (Dec. 8) to help inaugurate the Yaxche
Learning Center's new facility at the former R.C. Gorman residence in
Las Colonias. Before the ceremonies got underway, Lyons taped an
interview with The Taos News Media Center in
which he spoke about the
UN's Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples, which was passed
with 143 votes in favor.
This was a significant vote even if all 192
members of the general assembly were in attendance. But, what is even
more significant, Lyons said in the interview, is that there were 11
abstentions and four nations that voted against it. Those who objected
to the nonbinding declaration were New Zealand, Australia, Canada and
the United States, each of which have large numbers of indigenous
people.
The reasons the U.S. decided not to support the declaration
was because one of the articles states "indigenous peoples have the
right to the lands, territories and resources which they have
traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired."
According
to a Reuters news story, this was considered controversial because
"that could potentially put in question most of the land ownership in
countries, such as those that opposed the declaration, whose present
population is largely descended from settlers who took over territory
from previous inhabitants."
