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The fifth inter-sessional working group on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People will meet in Geneva from October 18-29. This is the fifth year in a row that the United States and other nations have dragged out the process of recognizing the international customary law rights of indigenous people. Those who follow developments in this forum may wish to consider direct action:

On March 1, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 53/134, the "Universal realization of the right of people to self-determination." Resolution No. 1 of that document "Reaffirms that the universal realization of the right of all people, including those under colonial, foreign and alien domination, to self-determination is a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights and for the preservation and promotion of such rights." There is no doubt that the indigenous people of the world are under colonial and alien domination. Why, then, is the U.S. State Department attempting to deny the right to effective self-determination in the draft Declaration and in a similar Organization of American States declaration?

On March 8, 1999, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 53/144, the "Declaration of the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms." Article 9 guarantees the important rights to have human rights protected, the means to complain of violations of human rights, and to have an effective remedy.

Thus far, the U.S. State Department refuses to tell indigenous representatives who is calling the shots and who is making the decisions on the U.S. position on the Declaration. They refuse to respond to complaints about the U.S. positions or to acknowledge Indian nation positions on the Declaration. Those are obvious violations of this last Declaration (which is a statement of international customary law).

The State Department will continue to stonewall and voice its ignorant positions on the Declaration unless public attention is focused upon the Department's actions. According to the State Department web page (www.state.gov), anyone can e-mail Secretary Albright at secretary@state.gov, and "The Bureau of Public Affairs reviews all emails sent to this address and responds on behalf of the Secretary." Everyone who follows this bulletin board is encouraged to e-mail Secretary Albright to demand that she:

1. Support the draft Declaration, as originally presented, THIS YEAR. 2. Disclose to the American public the names and identities of those who are setting U.S. policy on the Declaration. 3. Stop holding flashy "consultations" with indigenous leaders in Washington and then telling the U.N. that they have been "consulted," without reporting what they actually say about the State Department's positions. 4. Stop the stonewalling on the Declaration and tell the truth - the United States is not prepared to meet the international human rights of indigenous people. 5. Stop showing disrespect for the Miguel Alfonso Martinez treaty study - it is correct. 6. Acknowledge Indian treaties for the international instruments they are, and admit the fact that they were made with Indian nations as states. 7. Remove Michael Dennis of the Office of Legal Affairs from any project having to do with indigenous people.

We also encourage readers to use the Netwarriors site when the inter-sessional working group begins its work on October 18th to voice strong support of the indigenous representatives in Geneva. They sit on the edge of a circular room with national representatives in the middle, calling the shots. The voices of indigenous leaders are muffled because they are not allowed to speak out to tell the truth - that the major nations of the world are guilty of wholesale violations of the rights of indigenous people and that the United States is in fact attempting to defeat or water down the Declaration so indigenous people will have no internationally-protected human rights. The Department is in deep denial on the last point, and it needs to be set straight.

Indigenous people are doing poorly in Geneva because their situation has not made the radar screens of the media, and there is little popular pressure on national governments to call for support of the Declaration; particularly in the United States.