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Attorney: Kim Gottschalk
Case Update
The adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will have an import on the Organization of American States (OAS) process. NARF also represents NCAI in this process. In recognition of this, the OAS held a "reflection" session in Washington, D.C. in November, 2007, to discuss that import. It was agreed that the United Nations' Declaration would be used as the foundation for the OAS document, in that all the terms of the OAS document would be consistent with, or more favorable to, Indigenous rights than the United Nations document. The group further agreed that all the terms would be met through a consensus based decision making process which includes the Indigenous representatives. The United States and Canada expressed their opposition to a document that would be consistent with the United Nations Declaration, against which they had voted, but agreed they would not oppose the process moving forward. The 11th meeting of Negotiations in the Quest for Points of Consensus was held in Washington, D.C. from April 14-28, 2008. A session of reflection on the process was held from December 9-12, 2008 to consider the issues which specifically need to be addressed in the Western hemisphere in regards to indigenous peoples. The next negotiation session in which the substantive provisions will be addressed is tentatively scheduled for March, 2009.
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