An Unseemly Tradition

Last month, in the runup to COP 16, the National Congress of American
Indians called upon the US State Department and the UN to create a new
category of Indigenous Nation Governmental Representative so US Tribal
Nations will have a right to participate as governmental representatives
in UN activities such as the Framework Convention on Climate Change
and Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. While it is obvious that
excluding indigenous governments from international conferences is
anti-democratic, anti-indigenous states like the US still absurdly
demand that tribal governments be treated as non-governmental
organizations.

Coming from the United States, such nonsense is
at least consistent with its current position as the only country in the
world to officially oppose the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. What many may not understand is that the United
States, despite playing host to the original UN gathering, has from the
outset opposed the establishment of human rights in international law.
Fighting their extension to indigenous peoples is merely carrying on an
unseemly tradition.