The BBC reported yesterday that the General Assembly passed it, with 143 countries voting for it and 11 abstaining.
It seems they declined to mention that four nations voted against it. The U.S., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. I mean how sad is it that on a historic day when a declaration like this is adopted, almost a millenium after indigenous people really started getting stomped on, you have to read something
like this?Australia said it could not allow tribes' customary law to be given precedence over national law.
"There should only be one law for all Australians and we should not enshrine in law practices that are not acceptable in the modern world," said Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough.
A leader of a group representing Canada's native communities criticised his government's decision to oppose the declaration.
"We're very dissapointed...It's about the human righs of indigenous peoples throughout the world. It's an important symbol," said Phil Fontaine, leader of the Assembly of First Nations.
'Need for balance'
Campaign group Survival International says Canada's Innu tribe, who live in the frozen Labrador-Quebec peninsula, are struggling to maintain their traditional lifestyle as the government allows mining concessions, hydro-electric power schemes, and roads on their land.
The Canadian government said it supported the "spirit" of the declaration, but could not support it because it "contains provisions that are fundamentally incompatible with Canada's constitutional framework."
"It also does not recognise Canada's need to balance indigenous rights to lands and resources with the rights of others," a joint statement from the Canadian ministries of Indian and Foreign Affairs said.
The full
"Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" is very well done. It doesn't really work for me to take out excerpts of it. As a whole it does an amazing job of seeking the goal of equality while highlighting the individual and different qualities that indigenous peoples bring to the table.
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