US Mexico Canada Agreement
Subject to Legal Review for Accuracy, Clarity, and Consistency
Subject to Legal Review for Accuracy, Clarity, and Consistency
Subject to Language Authentication
CHAPTER 32
EXCEPTIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section
A – Exceptions
Article 32.5: Indigenous Peoples Rights
Article 32.5: Indigenous Peoples Rights
Provided that
such measures are not used as a means of arbitrary or unjustified
discrimination against persons of the other Parties or as a disguised
restriction on trade in goods, services, and investment, nothing in this
Agreement shall preclude a Party from adopting or maintaining a measure it
deems necessary to fulfill its legal obligations to indigenous peoples.
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Clarifications:
1.) The designation of Indigenous Peoples in the USMCA is definitive, in terms of the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as “peoples”. In the context of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was not yet place in 1994 during the original NAFTA agreement, the recognition of Indigenous Peoples in an international commercial agreement necessarily is accompanied and contextualized by the recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as articulated and affirmed in the principles and articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2) The principle of non-discrimination is a preemptive norm in international law. Therefore, the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as “peoples’ in USMCA Article 32.5 Indigenous Peoples Rights must be taken as an affirmation and commitment to uphold, recognize, respect, and institute guarantees of protection for the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, equal to all other peoples, without illegal or arbitrary discrimination, including effective consequences in the form of legal remedies to address the violation of these rights. Colonization must not be disguised as development.
3) Consultation is not the same as consent. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent in culturally appropriate manner for all economic development projects that impact the territories and human rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4) The official text in Spanish (or any indigenous language) of the USMCA agreement was never published in Mexico or anywhere else until the date of December 5, 2018 when our organization TONATIERRA requested an official copy at the offices of the Mexican consulate in Phoenix, Arizona. Without having the text of the USMCA agreement in advance, there is no legitimate or rational narrative that can explain how the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico have been consulted at least with respect to the protection of their particular and collective rights in the USMCA, much less taken into account with the opportunity to approve or DENY CONSENT.
Today, once again, the Continental Commission Abya Yala reiterates this call for accountability and justice in indigenous continental solidarity and agreement with the Reconciliation Manifesto of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade INET and in the spirit of the Manifesto Abya Yala. Our collective mandate is the defense of the Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth: Time is now.
1.) The designation of Indigenous Peoples in the USMCA is definitive, in terms of the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as “peoples”. In the context of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was not yet place in 1994 during the original NAFTA agreement, the recognition of Indigenous Peoples in an international commercial agreement necessarily is accompanied and contextualized by the recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as articulated and affirmed in the principles and articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2) The principle of non-discrimination is a preemptive norm in international law. Therefore, the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as “peoples’ in USMCA Article 32.5 Indigenous Peoples Rights must be taken as an affirmation and commitment to uphold, recognize, respect, and institute guarantees of protection for the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, equal to all other peoples, without illegal or arbitrary discrimination, including effective consequences in the form of legal remedies to address the violation of these rights. Colonization must not be disguised as development.
3) Consultation is not the same as consent. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent in culturally appropriate manner for all economic development projects that impact the territories and human rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4) The official text in Spanish (or any indigenous language) of the USMCA agreement was never published in Mexico or anywhere else until the date of December 5, 2018 when our organization TONATIERRA requested an official copy at the offices of the Mexican consulate in Phoenix, Arizona. Without having the text of the USMCA agreement in advance, there is no legitimate or rational narrative that can explain how the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico have been consulted at least with respect to the protection of their particular and collective rights in the USMCA, much less taken into account with the opportunity to approve or DENY CONSENT.
Today, once again, the Continental Commission Abya Yala reiterates this call for accountability and justice in indigenous continental solidarity and agreement with the Reconciliation Manifesto of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade INET and in the spirit of the Manifesto Abya Yala. Our collective mandate is the defense of the Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth: Time is now.
MEXICO: No Indigenous Consultation, No NAFTA
Without Indigenous Consultation There Can Be No Treaty
Without Indigenous Consultation There Can Be No Treaty
Today, from the legal point of view, it can be categorically
stated that if there is no Indigenous Consultation in Mexico there can be no
total or partial renegotiation of the NAFTA that could be deemed valid. Without the meaningful participation of the Indigenous
Peoples of Mexico, there is a set of national and international standards that
make the total or partial renegotiation of NAFTA legally impossible.
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Confederacion Tolteca
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| Anahuac Trade Routes AD 950-1600 |
CONCLUSION:
We call upon the ministers of government at all levels of Canada-US-Mexico
and the public constituencies of their respective societies to address without
prejudice or discrimination the above clarifications. We assert that these
clarifications command rectification of the crime of colonialism and a
moratorium on all NAFTA economic development projects impacting the territories
of the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples until the right of Free, Prior
and Informed Consent of the Indigenous Peoples is fully recognized, respected,
and protected in the spirit of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, as follows:
“Affirming that Indigenous Peoples are equal to all other
peoples,…..”
YouTube:
SWAP Meet at the UN
SWAP Meet at the UN
Interview with Arthur Manuel
SWAP meet at UN: System Wide Action Plan introduced to
subvert and reduce the Right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples (EQUAL
TO ALL OTHER PEOPLES per UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
2007) to a bureaucratic mechanism to Manufacture Consent under the domestic
rubrics of the states of the Westphalian System of State Sovereignty (1648),
now known as the UN system since 1945, per instructions of the High Level
Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly 2014, AKA the UN World Conference on
Indigenous Peoples. WE DENY CONSENT!
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El TLCAN y la Declaración de la ONU sobre los Derechos de
los Pueblos Indígenas.
CONCLUSIÓN
Hacemos un llamado a los ministros de gobierno en todos los
niveles de Canadá, Estados Unidos, y México, y los constituyentes públicos de
sus respectivas sociedades para hacer frente sin prejuicios ni discriminación
de las aclaraciones anteriores.
Afirmamos que estas aclaraciones obligan la rectificación del crimen del
colonialismo y una moratoria sobre todos los proyectos de desarrollo económico
dentro del TLCAN que afectan los territorios de las Naciones y Pueblos
Indígenas hasta que el Consentimiento Libre, Previo, e Informado de los pueblos
indígenas es plenamente reconocido, respetado, y protegido en el espíritu de la
Declaración de la ONU sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, de la
siguiente manera:
"Afirmando que los pueblos indígenas son iguales a
todos los demás pueblos"
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