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OCR Page 1 of 67October 26, 1999 - sarantsc\searoas\indig US pos-pt 1.doc
For U.S. Government Internal Use Only
Sensitive But Not Classified (SBU, NOFORN)
U.S.G. Internal Position on the proposed
"American Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Populations"
BACKGROUND
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) first distributed
a draft "American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" on
September 18, 1995, and requested that governments, Amerindian groups,
and others submit comments on it. Various Amerindian groups and NGOs
also submitted comments, and, according to Dr. Osvaldo Kreimer of the
IACHR, 15 national and two regional meetings reviewed the declaration.
Subsequently, a group of legal experts selected by the IACHR reviewed
the various comments and revised the draft declaration. The full IACHR
approved the revised draft declaration on February 26, 1996, and
distributed the revised draft to OAS member States for comments.
Additionally the Inter-American Juridical Committee (IAJC) and the
Inter-American Indian Institute (IAII) reviewed the revised IACHR text
and the comments submitted by governments.
In February, 1999, the title and preamble of the declaration were
reviewed and revised at a first meeting of government experts. On
November 8-12, the OAS Working Group on Indigenous Rights will review
the operative paragraphs of the draft declaration.
U.S. APPROACH
The U.S. supports the negotiation and adoption of a strong and useful
American Declaration that promotes indigenous rights, protects against
discrimination based on indigenous origin, and fosters understanding of
the values of indigenous traditions, culture, institutions, and
knowledge. The U.S. believes that substantial revisions are needed to
ensure that the final text is consistent with principles established in
international human rights instruments. We will identify and seek to
minimize any areas of possible inconsistency with U.S. law and policy.
At the same time, we will look for ways to avoid having the talks be
bogged down in ideological semantics. The forum offers an opportunity
to exchange ideas among member states and indigenous representatives
with a view to developing more common understandings of the definitions
of self-determination and which communities can fall under the scope of
the declaration. As appropriate, we will be informed by agreements on
these issues which may have been reached at the recent UN Working Group
negotiations in Geneva.
The process of crafting the declaration is equally important. The OAS
draft has not enjoyed the level of on-going dialogue with indigenous
organizations that developed around the UN Draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The November discussions offer a chance
to build greater acceptance for the process by expanding the dialogue
that began in the February 1999 Experts meeting. The U.S. strongly
supports open participation by representatives of indigenous
Sarantsc\searaoas\indig-Uspos part 1