PO
Box 24009
Phoenix,
AZ 85074
December 12, 2019
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House
Committee on Foreign Affairs
5100
O'Neill House Office Building
200
C Street SW
Washington,
D.C. 20515
Good
greetings.
In
our letter to the USMCA Working Group of the US House of Representatives
on September 13th of this year, we informed the Working Group
members and House Speaker Pelosi that upon review of the public record of debate
concerning the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of the
proposed US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the systemic disregard for
the human rights of Indigenous Peoples is blatantly discriminatory,
unacceptable and must be addressed before the agreement is put to vote before
the House of Representatives.
Specifically,
we called for a full public hearing before the appropriate committees and/or
Working Group formations of the US Congress for the purpose of informing the US
congressional representatives on the right of Indigenous Peoples to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as stipulated in the UN Declarationon the Rights of Indigenous Peoples regarding projects which impact their
collective rights.
The
purpose of this communiqué is to urge the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to
conduct a full public hearing on this issue before the vote of approval on the
USMCA in the US Congress.
The
USMCA has been promoted as a necessary "update" of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In distinction from NAFTA which was
adopted in 1994 thirteen years before adoption of the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), the signatories of USMCA must comply
with the minimum standards of FPIC or the corporate consortia
investing in any development project in violation of FPIC will immediately
become financially liable and exposed to the risk of legal
challenges and financial penalties that must be presented before
their constituencies (states) and shareholders (corporations).
This
principle is now well established, having been the subject of the Soft Woods
Lumber Dispute (1982) between the US and Canada which acknowledged the
proprietary rights of Indigenous Peoples over territories and resources in the
international trade tribunals. Recognizing this fact, the World Bank has
restructured its procedures, protocols and practices regarding Indigenous
Peoples and the right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent under the Environmental
and Social Standard 7 to shield its interests.
Today
we hear daily references in the public media to the “Founding Fathers”, invoking
the principles of the rights and responsibilities of self-government and American
democracy as the impeachment proceedings against President D.Trump advance (or
degrade) in the US Congress.
It
is timely then to juxtapose the issues of “wrongdoing” and violations of
“Oaths of Honor” by the representatives of the US government when
reviewing the history of international relations beginning with the original
thirteen British colonies and the long “Trail of Broken Treaties” with
the Original Nations of Indigenous Peoples whose history on the continent
precedes the founding of the USA. A fair
and impartial evaluation of this history, which must include the fast tracking
of the Dakota Access Pipeline by President D.Trump in 2017, would
conclude that what is in contention is not any honest effort by the US to honor
its word, or live up to the rule of law and justice for Indigenous
Peoples, but instead a continuous exercise in wrongdoing where what is really
in debate is “How much can I get away with?”
In a word, impunity.
Indeed,
the perpetuation of this historic pattern of systemic “wrongdoing” committed by
the agencies of the states vis-a-vi violations of the Human Rights of
Indigenous Peoples is the fundamental purpose why the UNDRIP was developed
as a necessary instrument of contemporary international human rights law after
decades of negotiations among all parties.
The
historic pattern of systemic “wrongdoing” committed by the agencies of the
states in violation of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples is evident
once again by the failure of the USMCA Working Group to address the core issue
of unethical and illegal discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the
processes of negotiation and collusion
by the three USMCA governments.
There
can be no approval of USMCA without recognition, respect, and effective
mechanisms for the equal protection of the internationally recognized Human
Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the trade zone encompassing the three
countries, specifically the right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Consultation is not consent.
Without
the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, as Peoples equal
to all other peoples, there can be no legitimate approval of the USMCA.
Tupac
Enrique Acosta
TONATIERRA
Free Prior and Informed
Consent (FPIC)
All Peoples have the right to self-determination.
It is a fundamental principle in international law, embodied in the Charter
of the United Nations and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights.
The standard, Free, Prior and Informed Consent
(FPIC), as well as Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and natural
resources are embedded within the universal right to self- determination. The
normative framework for FPIC consists of a series of international legal
instruments including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the International Labour Organization
Convention 169 (ILO 169), and the Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD), among many others.
FPIC is a specific right that pertains to
Indigenous Peoples and is recognized in the UNDRIP. It allows them to give or
withhold consent to a project that may affect them or their territories. Once
they have given their consent, they can withdraw it at any stage. Furthermore,
FPIC enables them to negotiate the conditions under which the project will be
designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated.
Consultation is not
consent.
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