Robert Coulter talks about the State of Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Americas and recent developments in Human Rights and International Law.
Robert Coulter is a member of the Potawatomi Nation and Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center (ILRC).
On March 29, 2010, Coulter, who also founded the ILRC in 1978, spoke for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes on the topic of “Indigenous Rights in the Americas and recent developments in Human Rights” at the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy in New York.
In his presentation, Coulter examines some of the recent historic developments of indigenous rights, including the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 13, 2007; and the similar Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Populations. He also discusses some of the key Rights acknowledged in these two documents.
The bulk of his talk is devoted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) one of two bodies of the Inter-American legal system “devoted to the protection and promotion of human rights”..
An independant organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), in recent years, the IACHR has become increasingly receptive to the legal claims of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. This makes it one of the most important forums for Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Americas and a leading example for the world.
You may also want to watch:
- Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Vol. 1 A film by Rebecca Sommer for the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2006.
- Racism, Native American Rights and the United Nations by Onondaga Nation faithkeeper Oren Lyons
- Genocide, Assimilation or Incorporation? A talk by Dr. Bonita Lawrence, an Associate Professor at York University
John Ahniwanika Schertow is an indigenous rights activist of Mohawk (Kanienkehaka) and mixed-European descent. For the past 8 years, he has served as the e... 
Great reporting, I am with you, I have read to much about how ‘The People’ have been treated thru the centuries thru my family history research and I am not proud to learn of
these happening. I was raised with being told I have Indian blood in my vains BUT due to reading about early treatment of the early days here in the USofA I can understand why it has been hidden from us. All family menbers that had the info are now ‘Walking the sky road’ so I may NEVER learn of my early American Indian History. I aplaud all your hard work and strength of your fight. FireFlower
I have read your story on Native rights l’m so glad to hear that were fighting back its about time we get heard. As l speak we are fighting the mines who are trying to destory our lands but were fighting back and standing our ground. We are the protector of mother earth we love our mother keep up the good work.
Link to story posted on Cultural Survival
Trial suspended in the murder of Marcos Veron – denial of the right for Guarani testimony in their mother tongue
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5915