Restoring Lipan Apache Women's Laws, Lands, and Strength in El Calaboz Rancheria at the Texas-Mexico Border

Published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2010, vol. 35, no. 3, The University of Chicago.
Comparative Perspectives Symposium: Indigenous Feminisms

Abstract: Ndé gową goshjaa (Lipan Apache families or clan relations) produce a significant portion of indigenous alliances and resistances to imperialism, colonization, industrialization, and militarization in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. The visibility of Ndé isdzáné (Lipan Apache women) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley changed radically after the passage of the Secure Fence Act in 2006. In this essay, I speak from my position as one of the cofounders of the Lipan Apache Women Defense and as the third‐born daughter of vocal and consistent leaders of the reemergent Ndé isdzáné in the traditional territories of the Ndé. My analysis is not meant to substitute for the important analysis of local matrilineal leaders, nor is it meant to be static. Rather, as an Ndé isdzáné scholar, I must allow the space to make and to know the people, politics, histories, events, and meanings as they continue to unfold. I believe that Ndé isdzáné, as a basis for Ndé activism (which includes supportive brothers) and as a category of analysis, furthers the work of feminism in U.S., North American, indigenous, and global indigenous human rights defense work. Investigating the histories of our indigenous foremothers—respecting and acknowledging community‐based rights, wishes, and aspirations—challenges Ndé women and our allies to reflect on the rights work of contemporary indigenous women in militarized and state‐occupied policing zones and their roles and challenges as political actors in extreme struggles against economic enslavement, dispossession, land theft, vital resource deprivation, environmental destruction, detention, rape, racialized sexism, indentured servitude, and casta.

Indigenous Elders Singled Out for New Round of Federal Condemnations on Texas-Mexico Border

January 5, 2010





Contacts:
Eloisa García Támez: Eloisa.Tamez1@gmail.com
Margo Tamez, sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com


For Immediate Release

Lipan Apaches, Támez-Benavidez Stronghold on Texas-Mexico Border
Singled Out for New Round of Federal Condemnations

Feds Want More Land to Put 'Holes' in Border Wall for Commercial Users:
Native American & Traditional Peoples' Lands Targeted for Surveys


Recently, a communication from a spokesperson from the Office of Congressional Affairs, Customs and Border Protection to the Office of Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz stated, "We have not yet made a decision on whether to take any of Dr. Tamez’s land. If there is another way to allow other landowners access, we will try to accomplish it in that way; however, we haven’t yet identified another way.”

Eloisa Támez and her elderly relative, (Sr. Benavidez), have an active lawsuit against the United States and the Texas-Mexico Border Wall, which, last April 2009, sealed off the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of El Calaboz from their lands, culture, and livelihoods on the south side of the wall. Tamez and Benavidez, who challenged the U.S. in a class action law suit, are currently awaiting notification of the new date of their 'compensation' jury trial, which has been postponed more than three times.

The extensively documented case, Eloisa G. Tamez, et al. Civil Action No.: 1:08-CV-0004 (United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Brownsville Division), has opened up new conceptual grounds about the contemporary challenges of states’ rights and human rights, and where these intersect with Indigenous peoples' rights to culture, environments, livelihoods, traditional ways of life and Peoplehood.

The lands in contestation have been held in continuity by Indigenous peoples prior to the Spanish colonization of northeast Mexico and Texas, and in 1749 were granted to the ancestors of Tamez and Benavidez. European legal traditions of granting lands collectively and individually to Native Americans has origins in 1526, when Hernán Cortéz granted encomiendas and hidalgos to Nahua and Tlaxcalteca peoples.

The tradition of granting lands to Indigenous peoples throughout Mexico’s northern states and the U.S. Southwest is a complex and entangled legal history between Native Americans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and the States, and often involving heated contestation when Native American rights to exist and to practice their laws, religions, and traditional organization are denied and threatened by the State em>especially when mega-development is an issue. In a previously published article, the Lipan Apache Women Defense has demonstrated that militarization, militarism, border walls, security technology, war contractors and dispossessing Indigenous peoples is big development for U.S.-based contractors. See 'Resources', below.

In the recent notification by the U.S. to Támez, it appears the U.S. government is considering the possibility of condemning more of her lands if she does not provide them entry to conduct more surveys. According to Cylke, the U.S. is seeking entry to “cure access” for land owners requesting commercial access to the levee and their lands on the south of the wall. Tamez, however, challenges this logic. “While it is true that access to the south side of the wall is important for many landowners, it is not rational that the government needs to possess more land on the levee—or beneath it—in order to open a hole in the wall. All they have to do is remove portions of what they constructed, not condemn more land to do so. The government is not being transparent. Condemn more lands to open the wall? Something is not right. I am refusing to allow them entry to my property for the 12 months they requested. If they want to open the wall, they should do so; the people need access to the titled lands on the south of the levee for their subsistence and livelihoods. However, the government should not require dispossessing individuals any further for that access to occur. The government and the contractors are targeting the Indigenous elders who have been most vocal in the exposure of the corruption which is at the foundation of the wall's construction. They are targeting us as a specific group. The government recently dismantled a large section of the wall down the road from El Calaboz at a locally well-known agricultural business. We feel at this time, given the history of this case and the history of non-transparency in all matters regarding the border wall construction, that we must stand firm.”

According to Margo Tamez, a Lipan Apache scholar at Washington State University, the U.S. may not have the final say if the Indigenous peoples are successful in gaining the ear of the Inter-American Commission/Organization of American States.

In October 2008, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of the American States (OAS) held its 133rd regular period of sessions. In this period, the IACHR/OAS read briefs and listened to testimony of the University of Texas Law Working Group, comprised of faculty and law students of the University of Texas Law School, with Margo Tamez, an impacted community member. In their formal statement, the IACHR/OAS Jurists responded: "The Commission received troubling information about the impact that the construction of a wall in Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, has on the human rights of area residents, in particular its discriminatory effects. The information received indicates that its construction would disproportionally affect people who are poor, with a low level of education, and generally of Mexican descent, as well as indigenous communities on both sides of the border."
(Available at: http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/humanrights/borderwall/analysis/iac-Press-Release-re-Hearing.pdf).

Texas-Mexico IAS/OAS Testimony at: http://lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com/2008/10/texas-mexico-border-wall-hearing-at.html.

Indigenous peoples along the Texas-Mexico border—more than many other impacted groups—are burdened in multiple ways and disproportionately on all border wall construction projects because their communities have already been consistently targeted for State violence, militarization, repression and dispossession as a matter of the normative policies of the neo-liberal and settler State.

The ‘third world’ conditions of the Texas border communities are directly related to the structural violence which goes hand-in-hand with the the settler state and settler constitutionalism dominating the region’s violent race, gender, and class politics. The normalization of the Texas-Mexico border communities as 'sacrifice zones' is so deeply internalized within the consciousness of South Texas' white citizenry that the scale of the violence and injustice is invisible to them.

Many historians have anayzed Texas as a unique case in North American histories of genocide and ethnic cleansing, and the entrenched pockets of cultures of violence which sustain the creed of lawlessness. The idealogy of hatred which birthed the settler society and spawned South Texas' industrial corridors as the 'gateway' to Latin America is, as historian Gary Clayton Anderson stated, a culture where "Violence, especially against ethnic groups, had become economically institutionalized in Texas." In this cultural landscape, the promotion of lawlessness, turmoil, and opportunity collide, and 'South Texas', from Indigenous perspectives, was constructed as an excuse to develop, destroy and kill.

Tragically, today this consciousness has not evolved. Violence has become, as Anderson argues, "ingrained in Texas, especially in the southern counties." As in the past, today South Texas violence is laissez faire andfixed in an opportunistic manner--among governors, corporations, contractors, workers, congresspersons, commissioners, rangers, border patrols, and civil society.

Indigenous peoples along the Texas border were already under extreme deprivation before the border wall--at alarming scales and at comparitive levels with many Third World nations and militarized conflict zones around the world. Fernando Romero-Lar cross-analyzed this border with the world's top conflict zones: North Korea-South Korea; Israel and Palestine; Morocco and Spain; South Africa; and the Golden Triangle. Romero-Lar found that this border topped the list of all conflict-industrial global militarized borders to qualify as a 'hyper-border.' (See report: "Texas Borderlands: Frontier of the Future (2009)")

The fundamental rights of Indigenous peoples are distorted in the normative Texas Creation Myth which traditionally views Indigenous peoples as less than human, servants, laborers, and 'the multitudes of surplus workers.' This construction of Indigenous peoples as 'Other' is a popularized stereotype which contorts white heroic masculinity through rationalized acts of genocide, extermination and structural violence against South & West Texas' and northern Mexico's aboriginal inhabitants.

Indigenous peoples' precarious access to critical First Foods (necessary for the repair of their dietary health), safe and potable water, safe housing, healthcare, education, jobs, transportation, and an environment free of gender violence and militarization has been overshadowed by the general society's pre-occupation with 'security' thinly masking the development objectives of NAFTA, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and ongoing projects of the lucrative corporate war occupation to militarize our environments. Indigenous elders, while they contend with degrading and destructive harrassment and surveillance upon them as they go about their personal lives, cannot help but speak out against the erosion of rule of law and human rights as a daily reality in South Texas.

The occupied aspects of their lives is anything but natural--militarized occupation in South Texas and northern Mexico, funded with U.S. tax dollars, Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense, is socially and physically constructed by a Euro-American settler society which emigrated to the Texas border in the mid 19th century. Massive waves of Euro-ethnic emigrants and Anglos from the U.S. south appropriated Texas constitutionalized slavery as a normalized economic system of an expansion-prone, modernizing society. At its essence and most fundamental level, Texas embodies the principles of Liberal democracy and settler constitutionalism--based on a stratified society where Indigenous peoples, such as Apaches, Tlaxcaltecas, Coahuiltecs, Tiguas, Kikapoos, and Comanches, are viewed as 'enemies,' and exploitable as human battery packs energizing the dreamscape of the middle-class consumer.

Along the U.S. side of the Texas-Mexico border, the flavor of white America is most palpable on a one-on-one and up-close basis, as the Indigenous peoples witness, report and document their most fundamental human rights being further eroded. When they are not being followed by gangs of CBP patrol cars, U.S. helicopters, and government functionaries trampling through their lands unannounced, they are confronted with the new migrant workers imported to the region to consume the manly job of building the border wall.



With the new waves of Angl-American emigrants from states such as Nebraska and those incomes going out of state to households in the Mid-West, it seems as though the border wall is truly an import-export job. When the border wall was being constructed in Cameron County, community members reported that the increase in large vehicle (i.e. trucks) traffic on Hwy 281/Military Highway bearing license plates with NEBRASKA engraved upon them was obvious and noticeable. Government contractors tend to be loyal to their home districts and states, and Euro-American migrant workers from Nebraska importing a conspicuously Mid-Western consciousness of 'Indians' and 'Mexicans, i.e. savages/illegals' could be felt in the road and table manners of the Nebraska migrant workers exercising both militaristic and tourist-like behaviors with local Indigenous women--both on roads and restaurants, according to local witnesses. It seemed as though the daily work to build the wall included a conscious opportunistic will to exercise old-fashioned American masculinity and sexism upon the Indigenous women labor force.



Local communities are exposed daily to these ruptures and multiple others in their daily lives, from the perniciously benign forces of white privilege and racism to the most obvious obstructions to human rights of the wall itself. They bear witness to the criminality, dangerous behaviors, greed and thievery of the mega-wealthy--which is ironic--considering that the U.S. citizenry just endured one of the most severe economic depressions in a century.

These fixtures of violence in the heart of darkness continues to define and to mark Texas as a pernicious state within an outlaw State; an identity with a propensity for achieving 'public goals' exercised 'democratically' through violence against Indigenous peoples. In the whitestream, this violence generally goes unaddressed by the state, federal governments and U.S. civil society (who'd rather stay 'safe' in the boundaries of debating the progressiveness of 'Avatar' rather than hone in on the current ethnocides in the U.S. 'Congo'--South Texas.

This violent and negligent will to empire, from the perspective of many Indigenous elders along the Texas-Mexico border, must then be taken up at different levels of legal oversite. They are resolved that they will not be intimidated by the violent propensities of the settler society for Indigenous land, water, minerals and bodies which are the markers of mega-projects.

Mega-projects--such as the border wall--impede the Indigenous elders from accessing their ancestral medicine plants, their biologically diverse properties titled to their ancestors through Crown land grants and treaties, and their sacred burial sites such as cemeteries which align both sides of the border wall. Indigenous peoples’ genealogical ties to historical places along the border wall construction, such as rancherias, communal meeting places, religious sites, missions, pueblos, presidios, wildlife areas, and traditional subsistence areas throughout the Texas-Mexico border region are eroding every day as a result of the lack of access to the lands on the south side of the wall which are owned by Indigenous peoples.

Eloisa Támez, a vocal opponent to the wall, seeks secure and unharmed access to her lands on the south side of the wall. Támez has documented numerous important species of flora and fauna on her lands necessary for continuity of culture, and she watches over the sites of habitation of her ancestors due to the destructive methods of government contractors who destroyed portions of her properties vegetation during the construction of the wall. The Lipan Apaches, like the Kickapoo, Tigua, and numerous tribes in Arizona, argue that the racist politics which are the foundation of the border wall must be calculated as “irreparable damage.” She does not believe that the government’s new request for “curing access” should entail dispossessing her elders and her community from Indigenous rights and the protection of their human rights. The federal lawsuit documented the ancestral, genealogical ties of Tamez and Benavidez, and an important South Texas Lipan Apache band in the region, which are signatories on key treaties, accords, hidalgos, merceds and land grants with Spain, Mexico, Texas and the United States.

Margo Tamez, a scholar at Washington State University, notes, “By refusing this community’s requests for secure access to their lands and cultural properties—which are necessary to sustain their traditional subsistence vis-à-vis agrarian, pastoral livelihoods, traditional gatherings and religious practices— the U.S. is failing to protect their human rights under International Law. Negative consequences may be associated with the failure to do so.”

Eloisa Tamez, a strong proponent of the health of poor and traditional peoples of her community, restates her firm resolve. “The health of our elders is severely threatened by this singling out of our small community—and our elders—in El Calaboz and the possibility of further dispossession.” Numerous experts debating and writing about this case agree that the border wall mega-project and continuous dispossessions against numerous traditional and poor communities disproportionately targets the most vulnerable. Texas’ border counties are the poorest in the nation. The wall currently stands on the #1 and #2 most impoverished counties in the entire U.S., according to the last five years census reports. Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Presidio counties are often analyzed and cross-compared to many developing nations--globally.

Margo Tamez, who is also the founder of an Indigenous Peoples Organization at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, concurs with the community members. “We feel that Indigenous peoples’ human rights are being violated—and this serious concern explicitly involves the United States and state government representatives along the entire U.S.-Mexico border—on both sides of the border. Lipan Apaches have demonstrated their serious grievances against the violation of their human rights along with other Apache nations (San Carlos Apache Tribe) at the United Nations in the past two years. The international law forums are increasingly critical sites for Indigenous peoples divided by this border to seek out alternative partners, allies, and legal avenues to pursue reparations and their human rights against States which are violators.”

At the local level, the singling out of Indigenous elders is causing further injury and irreparable harm against future existences of Lipan Apaches and Traditional Peoples in the El Calaboz Ranchería. Their lifeways are threatened, and thus, so are Lipan Apache grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Indigenous children’s rights are increasingly taking on important visibility at the United Nations, where the U.S. has been taken to task for numerous violations against Indigenous children who live and work within its political borders. Eloisa Támez, in her on-going challenge to dispossession, is taking a firm stand for the rights of Indigenous children. She states, “This is for the children—ours and everyone’s. The government is possibly seeking to take possessory rights to the Earth beneath the levee. My grandparents would not have allowed that, and they actively fought against this in their time. This is an on-going struggle for Indigenous peoples. Those land cannot be taken from the Indigenous peoples, according to traditional beliefs. The Earth is not for taking."


Resources:

Gary Clayton Anderson, The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875, (Normal: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005).

The University of Texas at Austin, School of Law & The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, "The Texas-Mexico Border Wall," at http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/humanrights/borderwall/law/lawsuits-government.html.

Fernando Romero/Lar, Hyper-Border: The Contemporary U.S.-Mexico Border and Its Future, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008).

Margo Tamez, "The Texas-Mexico Border Wall Through the Eyes of Indigenous Communities in El Calaboz Rancheria," May 2008.
Excerpt:
The following is a list of corporate contractors involved in the building of the
Border wall in S. Texas.

Lockheed Martin
Texas Divisions of Raytheon (Network Centric Systems)
L-C Communications (Integrated Systems)
Northrup Grumman (Los Angeles, CA)
BAE Systems (Austin, TX)
SAIC of San Diego
Computer Sciences Corp of El Segundo, CA
America’s Border Security Group (Erriccson Inc, Plano, TX)
(NASDAQ: ERIKY)
Fluor Corporation (NYSEL:FLR)
SYColeman Corporation
MTC Technologies
CAMBER Corporation
AEP Networks, Inc.
Texas A & M University
University of Texas (Austin)
Boeing
Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton)
Secure Border Initiative Network
United Kingdom Home Office


Sources for the above:
PennWell. “Defense firms turn to border security.” Washington, 28, Dec. 2005.
“The government’s high-profile offensive to control the borders is spawning a growth market for the nations’s defense industry.” http://mae.pannet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=244491&p=32 Accessed 11/20/07.

AEP Networks, America’s Border Security Group. “Ericcson’s AMerioca Border Security Group (ABSG) Offers Proven Effective Solution for U.S. Border Security.” http://www.aepnetworks.com/news/press_archive/release_06012006.htm
Accessed 11/20/07.

Richey, Joseph. “Fencingthe Border: Boeing’s High-Tech Plan Falters.” July 9, 2007http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14552. Accessed 11/20/07.;

“Software Glitches Delay Virtual Border Fence.” Newsmax.com. Tuesday, Ocotober 30, 2007. http://www.newsmax.com/us/virtual_border_fence/2007/10/30/45069.html Accessed 11/20/07.;

Riley, Michael. “Fortress America--Building a Border: Part 2.” Denver Post. 03/06/07http://www.denverpost.com/fortressamerica/ci_5356695. Accessed 11/20/07.;

McLemore, David. “Border Residents fuming over fence plans.” June 26, 2007. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/062707dntex...Accessed 11/20/07;

Downing, Margaret. “Killing Fences: Totally Misconstrued.” Houston Press, May 31 2007. http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-05-31/news/killing-fences-totally-misconstrued/ Accessed 11/20/07;

Richey, Joseph. “Border for Sale: Privitizing Immigration Control. July 5, 2006. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13845&printsafe=1 Accessed 11/20/07;

PRNewswire. Garland, TX. “Raytheon Awarded Contract with U.K. Home Office for e-Borders Project.” November 14, 2007,http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NEW03314112007-1.htm Accessed 11/20/07.

THE EAGLE AND THE CONDOR: Application of International Indigenous Principles to Halt the United States Border Wall

The Eagle and the Condor of the Western Hemisphere: Application of International Indigenous Principles to Halt the United States Border Wall by Angelique EagleWoman

This article will discuss the interrelationship of the indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere regarding the proposed expansion of the United States southern border wall. This discussion will explore (1) the historical relationships in the Western Hemisphere, (2) the efforts on the international level to bring attention to the quality of life experienced by the indigenous peoples in this hemisphere, (3) the impact of the proposed United States border wall on indigenous communities in the political border region, and (4) application of international indigenous principles to halt further construction of the United States border wall.

Keywords: Indigenous, International Human Rights, Tribes, Border, United States Foreign Policy

HONDAH' --WELCOME!

BORDER WALL UPDATE:
'Compensation': The hearings for 'compensation' for landowners along the last 70 miles of the Texas-Tamaulipas border have been delayed for the third time.
Although we do not have the specific date, we have been told by attorneys, and some have only found out through the scanty news reportage, that hearings will be held in December 2009.

Other Actions:

TAMEZ FAMILY LAWSUITS:
At the last hearing, in April 2009, the TAMEZ defense submitted the "CONSULTATION BRIEF."
For more information about the border wall law suits (U.S. Federal, International Human Rights), or specific aspects of the impacts of the border wall upon Indigenous peoples who are in litigation, see 'Texas-Mexico Border Wall, University of Texas School of Law'.

NDE' & NNEE TO GIVE PUBLIC TALKS IN PRESIDIO, TEXAS

Ndé (Apache)
to Give Public Talks <<<>>>

Indigenous Peoples’
Principles and Perspectives

Presidio Activity Center 1400 E. O’Reilly St. Presidio, TX
July 28 to 30, 2009 7:00- 10:00 pm

Simultaneous Spanish & English Translation Provided
Childcare Available age 3 and up

Tuesday July 28th Michael Paul Hill, Nnee (San Carlos Apache Tribe, Chiricahua Apache)
Nnee and Ndé spirituality and culture
Protecting and restoring Ndé sacred sites, first foods, water, air, minerals, family-and-matrilineal centered governance

Wednesday July 29th Margo Tamez, Ndé (El Calaboz Ranchería, Lipan Apache) & Michael Paul Hill, Nnee (San Carlos Apache Tribe, Chiricahua Apache)
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples: How Ndé and Nnee Challenge the Legality of the U.S.-Mexico border and Harmful Development of Indigenous Peoples’ Lands. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be discussed; Indigenous Peoples contemporary cultural-political-economic movements to strengthen our communities, traditional law & governance, and futures.

Thursday July 30th Margo Tamez, Ndé (El Calaboz Ranchería, Lipan Apache)
Indigenous Peoples, Women and Families on the Texas-Mexico Border:
Local Challenges, Community Responses, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples' Rights

Contacts for more information:
Margo Tamez, Co-Founder, Lipan Apache Women Defense (Indigenous Peoples’ Organization)
Sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com; 509-595-9666
April Cotte, 432-384-2399


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pláticas presentadas por Ndé (Apache)
Principios y Perspectivas de los
Pueblos Indígenas

Presidio Activity Center 1400 E. O’Reilly St. Presidio, TX
28 a 30 de julio 2009 7:00- 10:00 pm

Habrá traducción simultánea inglés / español
y cuidado de niños de 3 ó más años

Martes 28 de julio. Michael Paul Hill, Nnee (Tribu San Carlos Apache, Chiricahua Apache)
La espiritualidad y cultura Nnee y Ndé
La protección y restauración de los sitios sagrados, primeras naciones, agua, aire, y minerales Ndé, así como sus formas de gobernación con base en la familia y las relaciones de parentesco matrilineal


Miércoles 29 de julio. Margo Tamez, Ndé (El Calaboz Ranchería, Lipan Apache) & Michael Paul Hill, Nnee (San Carlos Apache Tribe, Chiricahua Apache)
Los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. Cómo los Ndé y Nnee refutan la legalidad de la frontera de Estados Unidos con México y el Desarrollo Dañino en las Tierras de los Pueblos Indígenas. Se dará a conocer la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas y hablaremos, asimismo, sobre los movimientos actuales culturales, políticos y económicos para fortalecer nuestras comunidades, el derecho tradicional, las formas de gobierno tradicionales y nuestro futuro.

Jueves 30 de julio Margo Tamez, Ndé (El Calaboz Ranchería, Lipan Apache)
Pueblos Indígenas, Mujeres y Familias en la frontera de Texas con México:
Retos locales, Respuestas de las comunidades, Derechos Humanos, Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas

Contactos para más información:
Margo Tamez, Co-Fundadora, La Defensa de las Mujeres Lipan Apache (Organización Pueblos Indígenas)
Sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com; 509-595-9666April Cotte, 432-384-2399.

"IN DEMOCRACY'S SHADOW: FENCES, RAIDS, AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIGRANT ILLEGALITY" by Daniel Ibsen Morales

Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez separated from ancestral lands by the mega-project border wall constructed by the United States against the firm protests of the Nde' of El Calaboz Rancheria and from related Nde' across the United States.



University of Wisconsin Law School, Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Paper No. 1068, January 2009, Daniel Ibsen Morales

Excerpt (pp 103-104):
"the government knows that the fence is ill-conceived. State-authored reports show, and experts agree, that the project is a classic white elephant; it is expensive, breachable, and its most dramatic effect is to shift migration pathways to dangerous areas where migrants are more likely to die en route to the United States."

Excerpt (p 129):
"The congruence, though, between Tamez‘s case in domestic court and in the international arena is not accidental; the origins of the international human rights regime are distinctly American.119 And, as in the domestic sphere, this story might be different if the Group was not conceding, as it must, the basic point that the right to property it asserts is very limited because ―the U.S. government has the right to subordinate the use of private property for reasons of public utility and social interest.‖120 As it stands, however, this international briefing (as well as the briefings in Tamez) attack and subjugate the administrative while reinscribing the primacy and unimpeachability of democratic authority, and leave out as uncognizable the deeper rights she has to the land (due to her Amerindian and Spanish heritage). Put plainly, the structure of the suits only reinforces the existing power relationships that lead to Tamez‘s problem in the first instance."

INTERVENTION DOCUMENTS (ENGLISH)--GLOBAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S CAUCUS--8TH SESSION--UNPFII

These documents (INTERVENTIONS) of the Global Indigenous Women's Caucus (GIWC) are provided here to support the future work of Indigenous Women, Apache women, Apachean Peoples and Communities, Indigenous Peoples, and transborder-transnational communication and support work. LAW-DEFENSE hopes that these can support the important work of Indigenous Peoples in the on-going efforts to protect cultures, environments, livelihoods, and ways of life.

Spanish versions of all final documents will be loaded as they are available.

GIWC AGENDA 3a
GIWC AGENDA 3b
GIWC AGENDA 3c
GIWC AGENDA 4 a & b
GIWC AGENDA 7


SYLVIA ESCARCEGA READING 'FUTURE WORK OF THE PERMANENT FORUM', AGENDA ITEM 7



GLOBAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN CAUCUS MEETING, NYC, MAY 15-17, 2009



GLOBAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN CAUCUS MEETING, NYC, MAY 15-17, 2009



GLOBAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN CAUCUS MEETING, NYC, MAY 15-17, 2009

JUNE 22nd LECTURE,Berlin, Germany/"CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS HUMAN AND CULTURAL RIGHTS INJUSTICES"

IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN

“Contemporary North American Indigenous Human and Cultural Rights Injustice”

There is a common idea out there that the injustices committed against North American indigenous “Indians” was a 19th Century and/or early 20th Century condition. While we all hold a general awareness that native reservations in the United States and reserves and Indian settlement areas in Canada may be marked by high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, suicide, gang activity, and domestic violence, and that these societal conditions may be regarded as a consequence of the colonization of North America; what is unknown is that these communities are still fighting a battle, today, that looks no different than the past.

North American indigenous communities, reservations, ceded territories, spiritual places, and traditional lands still in dispute in a court of law are under attack by multi-national corporations, governmental policies that abet domestic and foreign natural resource extractive industries, and judicial systems and processes that typically uphold legal edicts based on precedents without questioning whether it was fair, ethical, and just to begin with.

We will discuss the following three key and rapidly escalating areas of interest:

The Western Shoshone in the state of Nevada and their long-standing and continuing struggle against the mining and nuclear industries on their non-reservation lands under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley,
The Athabascan Chipewyan and Lubicon Cree, and other First Nation groups whose Treaty lands are being plundered by the Albertan Oil Tar Sands, and the oil pipelines from the Oil Tar Sands into the United States are threatening the Assiniboine and Lakota tribes of Montana and South Dakota and the Ojibwe in Northern Minnesota,

The conditions for indigenous tribes along the United States borders including the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, Jumano and Lipan Ndé (Apache) whose reservations or traditional lands have a border, and now a border wall, running through it. These tribes are under severe pressure due to the onslaught of the drug cartels and the human traffickers from Mexico, American and Mexican Customs and Border Patrol personnel, multi-national global subcontractors constructing the border wall and associated components, and civilian border-monitoring groups who may not possess the cultural education tools to understand the needs of these native communities.

Indigenous tribes such as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) along the United States and Canadian border are experiencing similar conditions with border patrol operatives, and the caseload of human rights violations continues to mount; especially due to pre-existing racial tensions regarding tribal land and treaty rights and a jointly-shared United States and Canada program called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that will commence on June 1, 2009, which may violate the terms of the Jay Treaty of 1794.

Additionally, we will discuss what role Germany and Europe plays in regards to the mining in Nevada, the oil production in Canada, and North American national defense mechanisms.

Furthermore, how will the Obama administration handle these North American indigenous concerns considering that his administration has begun reviewing the September 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Will it be the same policies as his predecessors or is there hope in indigenous communities that there will be a change?

Similarly, how is Canada handling indigenous issues in light of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s June 8, 2008 official apology to First Nations regarding the Indian Residential School era and the fact that Amnesty International of Canada and the Native Women’s Association of Canada has published reports in the past year detailing the high prevalence of missing and murdered native women in Canada?

The intent of this lecture, discussion, and dialogue is to educate and raise awareness about present-day North American indigenous community challenges and to examine them from not only a brief historical level, but to examine how governmental policies and the legal processes of today may undermine or adversely affect the sovereignty of indigenous tribes, some who may not have political recognition or it may be limited, and how this is reinforcing an atmosphere where human, cultural, tribal, and treaty rights continues to be infringed upon.

Please Note: The lecture and discussion will be communicated in the English language.

DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG

Es wird allgemein angenommen, dass das Unrecht an den nordamerikanischen Indianern vor allem im 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert begangen wurde. Während heute allgemein bekannt ist, dass vielfältige Probleme das indianische Leben in den Reservaten und Siedlungen der USA und Kanadas prägen, wie hohe Arbeitslosigkeits- und Selbstmordraten, Drogenprobleme und Gewalt, und sie als mittelbare Folge der nordamerikanischen Kolonisation anzusehen sind, scheint wenig bekannt, dass diese indigenen Völker nach wie vor Kämpfe auszutragen haben, die sich nicht wesentlich von denen der vergangenen Jahrhunderte unterscheiden.

Die indianischen Völker Nordamerikas, ihre Reservate, zugesicherten Gebiete, heiligen Plätze und traditionellen Stammesgebiete, über die noch heute vor Gerichten gestritten wird, werden bedroht von multinationalen Konzernen, politischen Entscheidungen, die die nationale und ausländische Rohstoffindustrie begünstigen, sowie Gerichten, die an überkommenen Präzedenzfällen festhalten, ohne zu hinterfragen, ob diese faire und ethisch gerechtfertigte Urteile darstellen.

Es werden folgende ebenso brisante wie aktuelle Bereiche diskutiert:

Die Western Shoshone in Nevada und ihre lang anhaltenden Anstrengungen gegen Bergbau- und Atomindustrie in ihren Nicht-Reservationsgebieten entsprechend dem Abkommen von Ruby Valley 1863.
Die Athabascan Chipewyan, Lubicon Cree und andere First Nation Gruppierungen in Kanada, auf deren durch Abkommen zugesicherten Gebieten ölhaltige Teersände gefördert werden, sowie die Ölpipelines, die auf der Strecke zwischen den Oil Tar Sands und den USA die Gebiete der Assiniboine und Lakota Stämme in Montana und South Dakota, und der Ojibwe in Northern Minnesota gefährden.
3) Die Lebensbedingungen indigener Stämme entlang der US-amerikanischen Grenzen, insbesondere der Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, Jumano und Lipan Ndé (Apache), durch deren Reservate oder traditionellen Gebiete eine Grenze bzw, nunmehr ein Grenzwall verläuft. Diese Stämme stehen aufgrund der Ausdehnung mexikanischer Drogenkartelle und Menschenhändler, durch US-amerikanische und mexikanische Grenzbeamte, durch die Praktiken multinationaler Subunternehmen, die mit dem Bau des Grenzwalls beauftragt sind, sowie ziviler Grenzschützer, die die erforderlichen, kulturellen Kenntnisse im Umgang mit den ansässigen Stämmen nicht haben , unter großem Druck. Stämme wie die Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) entlang der Grenze zu Kanada erleben ähnliche Probleme mit dem Grenzpersonal. Hier häufen sich Menschenrechtsverletzungen, die insbesondere durch (rassistische) Spannungen zwischen Landrechten und dem Abkommen „Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative“ bedingt sind. Dieses, zwischen Kanada und den USA geschlossene Abkommen tritt am 01. Juni 2009 in Kraft und verletzt möglicherweise im Jay Treaty von 1794 zugesicherte Rechte.

Darüber hinaus werden wir die Rolle Deutschlands und Europas im Zusammenhang mit dem Bergbau in Nevada, der Ölproduktion in Kanada und amerikanischen Sicherheitsbemühungen betrachten.

Auch wird die Frage diskutiert, wie die Obama-Administration die Probleme der indigenen Bevölkerung angeht, insbesondere, da sie begonnen hat, die UN-Deklaration über die Rechte indigener Völker von 2007 zu prüfen. Wird Obama die Politik seiner Vorgänger fortsetzen oder gibt es Hoffnung für Nordamerikas Indianer?

Ebenso stellt sich die Frage wie Kanada mit indigenen Fragestellungen umgehen wird, nachdem sich Premierminister Stephen Harper am 8. Juni 2008 für das an indigenen Völkern in der Ära der Indian Residential Schools begangene Unrecht entschuldigt hat und Amnesty International Kanada mit der Native Women’s Association of Canada im vergangenen Jahr einen Bericht veröffentlicht hat, wonach die Anzahl verschwundener oder ermordeter indianischer Frauen sehr hoch ist.

Vortrag, Diskussion und Dialog sollen vor allem informieren und das Bewusstsein für die Belange der nordamerikanischen indigenen Völker erhöhen. Die Probleme, denen diese Völker gegenwärtig gegenüberstehen, sollen dabei nicht nur vom historischen Standpunkt aus betrachtet werden, sondern es soll aufgezeigt werden wie aktuelle Politik und juristische Verfahren die Souveränität indigener Völker untergraben bzw, nachteilig beeinflussen und wie dadurch eine Atmosphäre kreiert wird, in der Menschenrechte, kulturelle und Stammesrechte sowie Vertragsrechte kontinuierlich verletzt werden.


Der Vortrag und die anschließende Diskussion finden auf Englisch statt.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Am 22. Juni um 19:00 Uhr wird Jessica Ossenbrügge zu Contemporary North American Indigenous Human and Cultural Rights Injustice im Robert Havemann Saal im Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte vortragen und anschließend unsere Fragen beantworten und mit uns diskutieren. Der Vortrag und die Diskussion werden auf englisch stattfinden. Ihr bekommt vorab noch mal eine deutsche Übersetzung der Kernaussagen, die wir auch auslegen werden. Weitere Details folgen demnächst.

Ich freue mich auf den spannenden Vortrag und verbleibe bis bald
mit herzlichen Grüßen
Eure Nina Althoff

Internationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit - IFFF / Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - WILPF
Deutsche Sektion
Dr. Nina Althoff
Geschäftsführung
althoff@wilpf.de
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin
Webseite: www.wilpf.de

Global Indigenous Women's Caucus, Intervention, Agenda Item 4 (a) Human Rights ; (b) Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights

SPACE DEBRIS FROM THE MILITARIZATION OF SPACE (RIGHTS TO NON-MILITARIZED AIR, SPACE, AND THE SACRED MEMBRANE OF MOTHER EARTH)


CANAMEX HIGHWAY MEGA-CONTINENTAL PROJECT


BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION LOWER RIO GRANDE MEGA-SECURITY PROJECT


SOLDIERS & RECONNAISANCE OPERATIONS PROJECT, LOWER RIO GRANDE RIVER, TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER


CLIMATE CHANGE: HURRICANE DOLLY UNLEASHES FLOODS IN LOW-LYING RANCHERIAS AND COLONIAS OF INDIGENOUS FAMILIES, LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER; TEXAS GOVERNOR, U.S. DHS AND U.S. FEMA IGNORE MASS-SCALE PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER



BORDER WALL & INDIGENOUS WOMEN, CHILDREN AND FAMILIES' RIGHTS TO CUSTOMARY LANDS, RESOURCES, FIRST FOODS, WATER, HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION, GOVERNANCE BY THEIR OWN LEADERSHIP, AND FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS TO THEIR OWN LANGUAGES, RELIGIONS AND CULTURES


-----IN ENGLISH & SPANISH-----

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth Session
May 19-29, 2009

Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus Statement

Agenda Item 4:

Follow Up on the Recommendations of the Permanent Forum

(a) Human Rights (Indigenous Women and Militarization)

Implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (RE: Articles 21, 22, 42)

(b) Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and other special rapporteurs

Madame Chaiperson, Permanent Forum Members, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, Member States, UN Agencies and Our Indigenous delegates, my brothers and sisters:

In regards to impunity, in recent years prior to the mass-scale global economic collapse, States declared a world-wide ‘war on terror’ which set in place the logic of unilateral voiding out of constitutional protections. This staged the collapse of any possible legal remedy for indigenous communities on a number of levels. The logic being, the global ‘war on terror’ guaranteed to the State the power to launch Martial Law against its own citizens, in the name of “national security.” To ‘save the world from terrorists’ the State essentially argues that it must void out constitutional freedoms and shut down democracy to protect national borders. This convoluted logic gave States’ impunity against the protests of Indigenous Peoples. Governments refusal to provide information and transparency to mega-projects associated with ‘no constitution’ zones, itself leads to serious concerns about States’ commitments to guaranteeing human rights. Thus militarization, terror, impunity and tyrannical States impose mega-projects with authoritarian vigilantes, violating lives, lands, and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous women.

Recommendations,

The Special Rapporteur is urgently requested to take up this issue immediately as an advocacy of Indigenous Women’s Rights priorities.

The Indigenous Women’s organizations and activists are functioning de facto as the front of human rights documentation and monitoring efforts within communities. This presents enormous challenges that the women must bear in isolation. They are largely unrecognized and unfunded and subject to harassment, persecution, libel, slander, death threats, rape, dismemberment, maiming, destruction of property, armed forced removals, en masse displacements, and violence against their family members at all levels of their communities.

We earnestly request a consultation session with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Mr. James Anaya, while the Indigenous Women’s Caucus is convened here in New York.

We are firmly committed to cooperating with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, to share documentations of specific cases of human rights violations.

We request that the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples engage with his colleagues, other Special Rapporteurs, members of Committees monitoring the implementation of the different human rights treaties and conventions at the earliest possible occasion, to review the situation of the human rights of Indigenous Women and Girls and to put forward a joint report/statement and appeal for action by States and the appropriate UN bodies and agencies.

Thank you for your focus and attention to the collective statement.

EN ESPANOL:
Foro Permanente para las Cuestiones Indígenas, Octava Sesión

18 - 29 de mayo de 2009

Cónclave Global de las Mujeres Indígenas

Punto 4 de la Agenda: Derechos Humanos
Seguimiento a la Recomendación del Foro Permanente

Implementación de la Declaración de los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas
Dialogo con el Relator Especial sobre la situación de los derechos humanos y las libertades fundamentales de los pueblos indígenas y otros Relatores Especiales


Sra. Presidenta, Miembros del Foro Permanente, Relator Especial sobre la Situación de los Derechos Humanos y las Libertades Fundamentales de los Pueblos Indígenas, Estados Miembros, Agencias de la ONU y nuestros delegados Indígenas, mis hermanos y hermanas:

En relación a la impunidad, en los años recientes y antes del masivo colapso de la economía global, los estados habían declarado una “guerra contra el terror” a nivel mundial, la cual desató la lógica de la suspensión unilateral de las protecciones constitucionales. Esto asentó el colapso de cualquier remedio legal para las comunidades indígenas en varios niveles. La lógica es que la “guerra global en contra del terror” garantiza al Estado el poder de declarar la Ley Marcial en contra de sus propios ciudadanos, en el nombre de la “seguridad nacional”. Para “salvar al mundo de los terroristas”, los Estados esencialmente argumentan que deben de suspender todas libertades constitucionales y limitar la democracia para proteger las fronteras nacionales. Esta lógica tan enredada, otorga a los Estados impunidad a pesar de la protestas de los Pueblos Indígenas. La negación de los gobiernos a proveer información y transparencia en los mega-proyectos asociados con las zonas “sin constitución”, nos lleva a cuestionarnos seriamente los compromisos de los estados para proteger los derechos humanos. La militarización, el terror, la impunidad y los Estados tiránicos imponen mega-proyectos con la protección de grupos no oficiales que pretenden ejercer actividades policíacas, violando las vidas, tierras y formas de vida de los Pueblos Indígenas y las Mujeres Indígenas.

Recomendaciones,

Solicitamos de manera urgente al Relator Especial sobre la situación de las libertades fundamentales y derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas que tome cargo de este asunto inmediatamente como una forma de abogar por las prioridades de los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas.

Las organizaciones y activistas de Mujeres Indígenas están funcionando de facto como el frente en la documentación y monitoreo de los esfuerzos dentro de las comunidades. Esto presenta enormes desafíos que las mujeres tienen que enfrentar solas. Ellas y su trabajo no están reconocidos ni debidamente financiados; además, las mujeres son sujetos de acosos, persecución, calumnias, amenazas de muerte, violaciones, desmembramientos, desfiguraciones, destrucción de la propiedad, desplazamientos forzados violento y masivos, violencia en contra de los miembros de su familia en varios niveles.

Pedimos de manera vehemente una sesión de consulta con el Relator Especial sobre la situación de las libertades fundamentales y derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, el Sr. James Anaya, mientras el cónclave de mujeres está reunido aquí en Nueva York.

Estamos firmemente comprometidas a cooperar con el Relator Especial sobre la situación de las libertades fundamentales y derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas para compartir documentación sobre casos específicos de violaciones de derechos humanos.

Solicitamos al Relator Especial sobre la situación de las libertades fundamentales y derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas que colabore con sus colegas, otros Relatores Especiales, miembros de comités monitoreando la implementación de diferentes tratados y convenciones de derechos humanos lo más pronto posible, para revisar la situación de los derechos de humanos de las Mujeres y Niñas Indígenas y escribir un reporte en conjunto y hacer una llamada de acción a los Estados y los cuerpos y agencias de la ONU apropiadas.

Muchas gracias por su atención a nuestra declaración colectiva,

Global Indigenous Women's Caucus, Intervention, Future Work of the Permanent Forum

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth Session



May 18-29, 2009

Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus Statement Agenda Item 7:

Future Work of the Permanent Forum including issues of the Economic and Social Council and emerging issues


Honorable Chairwoman, Members of the UN Permanent Forum, distinguished representatives of Indigenous Peoples, sisters and brothers here today,


Indigenous Women are the human embodiment of Mother Earth. Thus, managing and protecting Earth’s nurturing gifts is our responsibility. Indigenous Women bring invaluable knowledge, which reflects the worldviews of Indigenous Peoples that recognize our interconnectedness with the world around us. The knowledge includes ecological managing systems that can correct the global crises, which are caused by unsustainable economies. As such, our knowledge and ways of life are essential for the perpetuation, promotion and development of the world’s biodiversity. For these reasons, we play a very important role in carrying out our communities’ self-determining development.


As keepers and guardians of Mother Earth, Indigenous Women have a special connection with our ancestral lands. We are the first, together with our families, to suffer from the impact of Climate Change, the current patenting practices under the Intellectual Property Rights regime, and the forced displacements of Indigenous Peoples happening all over the world. Indigenous Women are deeply concerned that the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have not recognized Indigenous Peoples’ rights to our traditional territories, lands and waters in the negotiations of an international regime of access and benefit-sharing due for completion by 2010. Also, Indigenous Women oppose all forms of patenting of any form of life and reject the potentially genocidal effects of genetic modification and contamination of land by genetically engineered technology. Further, these acts violate our rights, as contained inter alia in articles 11 and 24 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP).


Key solutions to these challenges include environmental protection, peace and development, which are interdependent and interrelated. The imbalance of the environment is both a cause and effect of the political tensions and conflicts, which affects Indigenous Women and children in alarming ways. Therefore, our rights to ancestral lands and territories and to maintaining and preserving our Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK) are key in mitigating these problems and for our own survival, as contained, inter alia in articles 8, 10, 11, and 25-31 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.


Given this, we offer the following interrelated recommendations that would help ensure our roles as Indigenous Women in facing the challenges outlined, and help the protection of our rights.


Recommendations for future work:


FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT

We commend the Permanent Forum’s numerous calls in document E/C.19/2009/L.2 for States and transnational corporations and inter-governmental banks to respect, implement, and guarantee the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.1 We underscore the critical need for the full and equal participation of Indigenous Women in these efforts. We therefore recommend that the Permanent Forum urge States, transnational corporations and inter-governmental banks to ensure that Free, Prior, and Informed Consent is sought with the full and effective participation of Indigenous Women on an equal basis, as well as the participation of all marginalized groups in Indigenous communities.


TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

We strongly urge the Permanent Forum to set Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, including the revitalization of Indigenous Languages, as a future main theme for its work.


We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a study on the implementation of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the protection of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This reinforces our previous recommendation that the Permanent Forum advance a World Conference on TIK in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, including a focus on TIK and Education. We recommend that the Permanent Forum hold preparatory sessions in all regions that provide examples of best practices by States, UN agencies and bodies and Indigenous Peoples of the implementation of the UN DRIP in relation to the protection of TIK.


We recommend that the Permanent Forum recommend the establishment of an International Year for Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This International Year can, among other mandates, facilitate focused research and emphasize critical concerns of Indigenous Peoples’ access to educational opportunities related to TIK within their communities and outside of them.



HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN

We recommend that the Permanent Forum initiate a gender-based analysis of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in consultation and collaboration with Indigenous Women at the local level. Articles 21, 22 and 44 of the UN DRIP mandate a full gender-based analysis of the Declaration. Any human rights process that considers the needs of Indigenous Women must be mindful of our specific customary laws, traditional beliefs and practices, and historical circumstances as well as our specific experiences of discrimination and marginalization. We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a gender-based analysis to set the framework for all States as they implement UN DRIP.


We recommend that the Permanent Forum study ways for the establishment of a mechanism to address violations on the right to maintain and preserve Indigenous cultures. Article 31 of UN DRIP asserts that Indigenous Peoples have the right to maintain their own cultures. Violations to Article 31, as well as other articles including article 11, are currently occurring as States prohibit the practice of Indigenous cultural traditions. We condemn the actions of States that criminalize Indigenous cultural practices or expressions of collective identity, where women are being detained and punished for expressions of their traditional cultures.


We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a study on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of unrecognized or unrepresented Indigenous Peoples. Historically known Peoples who are unrecognized and/or unrepresented within States have no access to remedies of collective or tribal rights. This undermines the stability of Indigenous Women and Children who carry their traditions and are unable to practice them without being criminalized.


TRADITIONAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS

We recommend that the Permanent Forum sets traditional Indigenous justice systems as a future agenda item of the UN PFII. Acknowledging the efforts of UNIFEM to further the understanding of Indigenous Women and Ancestral/Tribal Justice systems through the forum held in Ecuador (October 2008), we encourage further efforts by UNESCO, UNDP, UNIFEM to coordinate additional forums that will promote knowledge and understanding of the value of Indigenous Justice Systems.


TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL AND HEALING SYSTEMS

We commend the Permanent Forum’s call to the UNDP to convene an International Expert Workshop on “Indigenous Peoples and health, with a special emphasis on sexual and reproductive health” (E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 25). In preparation for this Workshop, we recommend the Permanent Forum to prepare studies of best practices on traditional Indigenous medicinal and healing systems. These studies should focus on: (a) greater visibility of Indigenous Women in reports and statistics that examine the impact of poverty, disease, violence, forced dislocation, climate change, pollution and other factors that affect Indigenous Women’s health; (b) the need of health care providers to have specific training to assist Indigenous Women who are disproportionately affected by problems such as cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence; (c) understanding of and support for traditional medicines and practices such as traditional birthing practices, which are not valued by western health systems, or the chewing of coca leaves in South America, which at present is criminalized by national and international laws; (d) sexual and reproductive health and rights; and (e) more education within Indigenous communities, as problems such as HIV and tuberculosis are compounded when social stigma inhibits people from coming in to be tested and treated.


We also note the importance of continued support for the Indigenous Task Force at the International Diabetes Federation and the STOP TB Partnership.


MIGRATION

We commend the Permanent Forum’s recommendations for studying the situation of Indigenous Women migrants and the loss of their rights as they migrate (E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 26 and 27). For this study, we recommend the PFII to produce studies and request from all UN bodies and agencies disaggregated data on Indigenous migration. We also request a gender-based analysis be completed in all reports that are produced. We would like to suggest the following:


Need for disaggregated data on Indigenous migration: We recommend that the PFII in collaboration with the relevant UN bodies and agencies, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights and Fundament Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, and Indigenous scholars/experts on Indigenous migration, create a taskforce to conduct a meaningful and comprehensive study that will advance the identified constraints in the research findings of the Indigenous Peoples and Migration: Challenges and Opportunities Draft Issues Paper (2006) Section D. This should focus on the lack of relevant data on Indigenous Peoples in migration, especially Indigenous Women who have been forced off their lands, often due to economic and environmental factors. Greater access to justice for migrant Indigenous Women needs to be facilitated, given that they are often faced with criminalization and incarceration rooted in discrimination. Related to this, there is also a need of disaggregated data on the physical and mental health of migrant Indigenous Women.


Gender-based analysis of Indigenous migration: We recommend that the PFII in collaboration with the relevant UN bodies and agencies, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights and Fundament Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, and Indigenous scholars/experts on Indigenous migration undertake a joint comprehensive study on the specific concerns of Indigenous Women in the area of forced migration, including socio-economic marginalization, extreme exploitative labor practices fueled by undue influence of transnational corporations on immigration policies, violence against Indigenous Women and a lack of fair judicial review of racial and gender discrimination of migrants outside of their territories. This study should consider and integrate the analysis on migration and women developed in the Rural Women’s Declaration: Rights, Empowerment and Liberation (August 2, 2007, Manila Philippines).


DECOLONIZATION

We call upon the Permanent Forum to implement and prioritize its recommendations regarding decolonization. Specifically, these recommendations are in Document No. E/C/19/2004/23, para. 54, from the third session, regarding the impact of decolonization on the human rights of Indigenous Peoples of the self-governing territories; and in Document No. E/C.19/2008/13, para. 52, from the seventh session, recommending that an expert seminar be held on the decolonization process on Indigenous Peoples of non-self governing territories.


TRANSBORDER INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

We request that the Permanent Forum initiate an Expert Study and Dialogue on transborder Indigenous communities. This study should examine: (a) the interrelated causation of militarization and toxic spills from factories to infant, child and young mother’s mortality/morbidity; (b) contamination of land, air, water, and space; (c) the right to mobility within the traditional territory and access to cultural, sacred and ceremonial sites; (c) political identity and organization; (d) jobs; (e) education of women and children; and (f) armed and forced removal from customary lands.


DEVELOPMENT WITH CULTURE AND IDENTITY

We commend the Permanent Forum’s decision to organize an International Expert Group meeting on Indigenous Peoples’ development with culture and identity (E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 15). Given that Indigenous Women play a very important role in carrying out our communities’ self-determining development, we urge the Permanent Forum to include the full and effective participation of Indigenous Women in this meeting.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 8th Session Highlights

Filming courtesy of Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development

COLLECTIVE STATEMENT ON UNRECOGNIZED AND UNREPRESENTED PEOPLES

Collective statement on Unrecognized and Unrepresented Peoples

Reading: Chief Caleen Sisk-Franco, Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Dear Madame Chair, Permanent Forum Members, Member States, UN Agencies and Indigenous brothers and sisters :

For hundreds of years, Indigenous peoples have struggled to resist and survive the affects of colonial legal domination and conquest, which in certain locations this created a legal divide between recognized and “unrecognized” indigenous peoples and in others it has completely denied their existence through an “unrepresented” status. This assembly applies to multiple historical tribes and indigenous peoples
worldwide; it is no coincidence that many of us sit on prime land and natural resources historically desired by governments and corporations for profit and expansionist agendas. Many more have been forcefully relocated, removed and/or pushed into Diaspora across hemispheres, creating global migrations
and displacement of indigenous peoples. This matter affects indigenous peoples in every continent. The effects are profound and require the attention of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the international community.

This collective statement is the product of a first and historic side-event held on May 18, 2009, during the Permanent Forum. The panel brought together Indigenous Women leaders from around the world, North America, South America, the Pacific, South-East Asia, and Africa, to begin identifying the common conditions that this colonial legal atrocity has produced in the lives of indigenous peoples, and in
particular indigenous women and children. The panel discussed some of the common issues affecting historical tribes, migrant indigenous women and their children born and raised outside of their territories, pastoral indigenous peoples and indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, indigenous peoples with recent
or no contact—all which are currently struggling with discrimination under the rule of law as unrepresented and unrecognized indigenous peoples.

Noting that all peoples should have the human right to be free from discrimination, unrecognized and unrepresented peoples currently do not have equal rights and protections to land, water, culture, identity, and child welfare protection as recognized indigenous peoples.

Noting that unrepresented and unrecognized tribes have less than equal rights to fair judicial review, unrecognized and unrepresented peoples are more vulnerable to discrimination, especially in exercising their right to land use, practice and preservation of culture, and in turn contributes to the cultural genocide
of these peoples.

Acknowledging the importance of the right to equal and fair judicial review, unrecognized and unrepresented peoples can not engage the state in legal address to their specific needs specifically related to land, natural resources, cultural custodialship, and their economic sustainabilities.

Further noting that unrepresented and unrecognized Indigenous women experience greater levels of discrimination due to the compound affect of ethnicity, gender, class, language, and, in particular, non-represented and unrecognized status.

Recognizing that the unrepresented and unrecognized status is a discriminatory status which denies the rights of historic, traditional tribes from the free exercise of their aboriginal rights and those basic human rights guaranteed under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People…

We submit the following recommendations to the UN Permanent Forum:
1. We strongly recommend to the UNPFII the inclusion of an item on unrepresented and
unrecognized indigenous peoples in its 2010 agenda.
2. We urge the UNPF to create a Task Force on unrepresented and unrecognized indigenous peoples, to include direct consultation with unrepresented and unrecognized indigenous peoples.
3. We request of the PF to appoint or designate a rapporteur to undertake a study on the conditions of unrepresented and unrecognized indigenous peoples, including but not limited to migrant peoples and their families born outside of their traditional territories.

We draw the attention of the UNPF, relevant UN Agencies and Member-states to the following matters:
1. We draw attention to the United States governments continuing efforts to suppress the rights of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe in California who are defending their historical territories, watersheds and the survival of their cultural
Government’s discriminatory statutes and practices which deny the rights of historic, traditional tribes from the free exercise of their aboriginal rights and those basic human rights guaranteed under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
2. We draw attention to the PF the case of Flor Crisostomo (see La Red Xicana Indigena statement on Urban and Migrant Indigenous Issues 2007), the face of migrant indigenous women in the US, Flor is in sanctuary in Chicago, Illinois resisting her order of deportation and is confronting the risk of federal charges with no legal recourse by either Mexico or the US for the effects of
displacement due to Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA).
3. We draw special attention to the present conditions of the Alifuru women and youth, see GIWC Statement on Human Rights 2008, who were incarcerated by the Indonesian government and prosecuted with charges of treason for possessing traditional fabric and presenting their traditional dances publicly. We urge the UNPF, Council on Human Rights, and the Special Rapporteur to report on the human rights violation of the Alifuru people.
4. We draw attention to the conditions of La Cuenca Amazonia (COICA) and encourage the PF to urge UN Agencies and Bolivia to promote the preservation of their right to self determination and territory, in order to secure their good health, education and livelihood.
5. We draw attention to the PF the excessive militarization due to the construction of the US-Mexico wall which is restricting the access to traditional foods, ceremonial sites, and are contaminating the water and riverbanks on the territory of the Lipan-Apache divided by US-Mexico border.

Signatories as of 5.20.2009:
La Red Xicana Indigena, Member ENLACE-North (Continental Network Indigenous Women)
Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Na Koa Ikaika Ka Lahui Hawaii
The Indigenous Worlds Association
Bansa Adat Alifuru
Touaregh Tribal People (Niger)
Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA)
California Indian Heritage Council
Lipan Apache Women’s Defense
Lipan Apache Band of Texas
Centro Sin Fronteras, Chicago, Ill
International Forum of Indigenous Women’s (FIMI)
Maya Visión
Comisión de Instrumentos Internacionales,
ENLACE Continental de Mujeres Indígenas
(Américas)