Online Petition in support of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Press Release
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Please speak out!
PLEASE POST or PASS IT ON!
Within weeks, the United Nations General Assembly must make a decision on the long awaited and urgently needed UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Either the international community will move ahead with final adoption as has been urged by Indigenous peoples and their supporters worldwide, or adoption of the Declaration will once again be delayed due to the demands of a small, yet vocal group of states.
Please take this opportunity to support the Declaration.
More than 14,000 individuals and organizations have already signed a global petition (see below) hosted by Amnesty International Canada in support of the Declaration.
If you haven't already done so, please add your name and encourage many others to do so.
The petition, in English, Spanish, French and Russian is online at:
http://www.amnesty.ca/ip_un_petition/UN_indigenous_rights_petition.php (English)
GLOBAL PETITION
"We reaffirm our commitment to continue making progress in the advancement of the human rights of the world’s indigenous peoples at the local, national, regional and international levels, including through consultation and collaboration with them, and to present for adoption a final draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples as soon as possible."
-- 2005 World Summit Outcome,
adopted by the UN General Assembly, 24 October 2005
In every region of the world, the survival or well-being of Indigenous peoples is threatened by grave and persistent violations of their fundamental human rights.
A strong and uplifting United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is urgently needed to establish minimum international standards to inspire and urge states and others to respect and uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples without discrimination.
We call upon all states to support as a priority the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Human Rights Council, Res. 2006/2, 29 June 2006, Annex) and its adoption by the General Assembly.