Indian Law Resource Center

Part 2 of interview from January 4, 2012

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A year has now passed since President Obama announced his support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He also promised to Native Americans that he would take action to implement at least a few of those rights. Tribes across the country are using the UN declaration to seek changes in federal laws and regulations. Has the President fulfilled his promise and taken action, or will Natives once again be left out in the cold? The Native American Calling radio program posed these questions and more to Robert T. Coulter (Potawatomi), Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center.

Part 1 of interview from January 4, 2012

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Washington, D.C.— A small indigenous community, seeking protection for their land and human rights, filed a petition against Guatemala today with an international human rights body.

Agua Caliente, a Maya Q’eqchi’ indigenous community of 385 people living in El Estor, in the country’s Izabal province, filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning the violation of their rights to property, self-government, due process of law and judicial protection by the state of Guatemala. The Commission is an independent organ of the Organization of American States, created by countries to promote and protect human rights in the Americas.

The complaint centers on a 40-year dispute over the community’s traditional ownership rights to land rich with nickel deposits. The Guatemala government gave Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), a former subsidiary of HudBay Minerals from Canada, rights to extract nickel from lands held by sixteen Maya Q’eqchi’ communities, including Agua Caliente. The permission was granted without regard for the ownership and self government rights of the communities. Additionally, Guatemala failed to properly notify and consult with community members. In February 2011, Guatemala’s highest court ruled in favor of Agua Caliente, recognizing their collective property rights and questioning the legality of the mining permits and activities on their traditional lands.

“Guatemala has not fully complied with court orders from the Constitutional Court,” said Leonardo Crippa, an attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center, which represents the Agua Caliente community. “We have exhausted all of the state processes for justice and we are now left with only one option, to seek an international intervention.”

The Court ordered Guatemala’s executive branch to take all corrective actions necessary to properly title Agua Caliente’s lands.  This includes replacing pages that were removed from the official land registry book, pages that show land ownership belongs to the Agua Caliente community, but which have gone missing. According to the Court, the executive branch’s failure to properly register and title indigenous lands violates Agua Caliente’s land rights and rights to equality before the law, as well as the legal principle of self-determination.  “We hope by working with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Guatemala will fulfill its obligations to protect human rights and to adopt measures to meet international standards toward indigenous peoples,” said Crippa.

The Indian Law Resource Center and Defensoria Q’eqchi’, an indigenous human rights organization based in El Estor, have been advising the communities, and in 2009, brought forward legal action on behalf of Agua Caliente, the community with the largest deposits of nickel on their lands.

Because of rich natural resources in the Maya Q’eqchi’ territory, the communities have faced efforts by local government and mine security forces to evict them from their lands. The Maya Q’eqchi’ cultural and spiritual beliefs are deeply rooted to the land they have traditionally possessed and the lands are critical for their physical and cultural survival. The communities have long been concerned about the impacts of mining on the environment as they rely on the natural resources of the land and the nearby Lake Izabal, the largest lake in Guatemala, for food and economic resources. Without respecting Agua Caliente’s land rights and without consultation with the community, Guatemala continues to act in opposition to domestic and international law.

Listen to testimony by an Agua Caliente Community Member.  The interview is in Spanish.

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Free Speech Radio News interview with Armstrong Wiggins, director of the Indian Law Resource Center's Washington, D.C. office

Monday, January 3, 2011 -- And now we head to the Southern Pacific Ocean and the remote island of Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island.

This was the scene last week, as indigenous islanders clashed with Chilean security forces.  Rapa Nui is a “special territory” of Chile.  In the late 1800’s the indigenous population was sold as slaves.  Later they were confined to a single settlement on the island, while the government rented the rest of the land out as a sheep farm.  It wasn’t until 1966 that the residents were given citizenship status and allowed to leave the settlement.

The recent clashes are a continuation of years of conflict over indigenous human rights and territory issues.  Video of the latest incident was posted by the Washington-based Indian Law Resource Center.  The Center’s DC Director, Armstrong Wiggins, joins FSRN today.

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On December 16, 2010, the United States government at last officially endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and joined the international community in recognizing that American Indians and other indigenous peoples have a permanent right to exist as peoples, nations, cultures, and societies.

Armstrong Wiggins shares his views about the endorsement of the Declaration on the "Wakeup Call" program on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City recorded December 20, 2010.

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The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is much more than a political document to Armstrong Wiggins,  Director of the Indian Law Resource Center's Washington, D.C. office. It represents more than three decades of blood, sweat and tears from many indigenous leaders -- including his own.  Wiggins attended the very first United Nations conversation in 1977 as a Miskito leader representing human rights concerns of his people in Nicaragua.  His efforts to communicate a vision of self-determination and self-government from the indigenous perspective landed him in jail upon his return home.

He became a political prisoner for his work on the early stages of what is now the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  For decades, Wiggins risked jail and exile to keep the work going.  In this podcast, listen as Armstrong Wiggins talks about his story and struggle to give indigenous people a voice.

Learn more about the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Send e-letter to the White House

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Indian Law Resource Center staff attorney, Leonardo Crippa, discusses the obligation of multilateral development banks — such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — to demand that States and corporations carry out good faith consultations with indigenous peoples prior to undertaking a project that may affect them. The following interview first aired on Programa Radial Tierra Fecunda, conducted in Lima, Peru.  Crippa was part of a national seminar there titled  “Building Consensus for the Implementation of the Right for Consultation in Peru and Latin America.”  The interview is in Spanish.

Centro de Recursos Jurídicos Para los Pueblos Indígenas

Lima Peru, - Leonardo Crippa, Abogado del Centro habla sobre la obligación de los Bancos Multilaterales de Desarrollo, como el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), El Banco Mundial, y la Corporación Financiera Internacional para exigir a los estados y  corporaciones para consultar de buena fe a las comunidades indígenas, en forma previa a la ejecución de un proyecto que pudiera afectar a la comunidad. Esto fue parte de la cobertura del Seminario-Taller Internacional “Construyendo Consensos para la Implementación del Derecho a la Consulta en el Perú y en América Latina”.

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The Onondaga Nation has used its historic land rights to achieve a huge victory on Nov. 16, 2009.  A federal judge gave the go-ahead for a new plan to use green technology to protect Onondaga Creek and Onondaga Lake from sewage, storm water, and other pollution.

“This success shows again how Indian nations can use their political power and their legal rights to achieve important goals that benefit everyone in the region and protect the Earth itself,” said Robert T. Coulter, Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center.

The Indian Law Resource Center represents the Onondaga Nation in its historic land rights lawsuit and has worked with the Nation to help develop its legal strategy for protecting the land, cleaning up Onondaga Lake, and improving water quality.

Photo by Dick Blume/ The Post-Standard

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Ben Shelly, vice president of the Navajo Nation was among the 400 tribal leaders in attendance at the White House Tribal Nations Conference.

"What Obama told us about partnership, collaboration, consultation and sovereignty ... was music to my ears."

The issues mentioned by Ben Shelly -- self-determination, control over resources, revenue and economic development for self-sufficiency -- are important for all Indian and Alaska Native nations and are included in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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Reactions to the historic White House Tribal Nations Conference by Lucy Simpson, Navajo, Senior Staff Attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center.

"Adoption of the UN Declaration by the United States would be a formal commitment to respect the most basic rights to fairness, equality before the law, respect for treaty commitments, rights to our lands and resources, rights to education and cultural preservation, and perhaps most importantly self-determination for Indian peoples. "

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