TONATIERRA
Community Development Institute
PO Box 24009
Phoenix, AZ 85074
November 23, 2020
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.
It was with great interest and appreciation that we were able to watch the virtual hearing on Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas conducted by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) on November 20, 2020. The commission is to be commended for addressing the overarching theme of Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in a continental context, which is not only appropriate but necessary in order to achieve a comprehensive historical understanding and analysis of the systemic nature of human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples which persist in the continent.
It is our understanding that the TLHRC addressed the issue of human rights of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America some ten years ago. During the virtual hearing on the 2oth of November, the substance of the testimonies during the virtual hearing echoed a common denominator of dispossession, discrimination, dehumanization, colonization and genocide that has been normalized in the Americas since October 12, 1492. That the “Latin American” chapter in this history has been reviewed by the TLHC is significant in the defense of internationally recognized human rights norms, but the issues of human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples in the Americas is not limited to the Roman Civil Law successor states of Latin America. The Anglo-American successor states on the continent, whose origin derives from the English Common Law of Christendom, must also come under review in the context of internationally recognized human rights principles and norms as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant human rights instruments such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).
A comprehensive historical understanding and analysis of the systematic human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples in the Americas [North-Central-South] must necessarily integrate a critical position in regard to the nefarious and racist Doctrine of Discovery of Christendom (October 12, 1492) which continues to be normalized by the successor states across the continent.
A comprehensive historical understanding and analysis of the systematic human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples in the Americas [North-Central-South] must necessarily integrate a critical position in terms of the international trade policies of the “Corporate Metropolitan States” in competition and systemic collusion over the extraction of natural resources and labor of the Original Nations of Indigenous peoples of the Great Turtle Island Abya Yala. As both example and evidence, the “Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus (1492)” outline the rewards and protections of the initial colonial enterprise of seeking World Trade Organization routes to the Indies on behalf of the European Royalty. These packages of privilege and profit are institutionalized today via the multilateral international trade agreements such as the recently adopted US-Mexico-Canada Agreement USMCA (2020).
On this point, we would concur with the statement by TLHRC co-chair James P. McGovern (D-MA) made during the virtual hearing on November 20:
“We should be examining the impacts of our trade agreements on Indigenous Rights.”
Many of the themes of discussion in the virtual hearing have long been areas of work of our organization of Indigenous Peoples, which is headquartered in the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples located in the O’odham Nations traditional territories of Phoenix, Arizona. In fact, over the past year our organization operating as Secretariat of the Continental Commission Abya Yala has submitted a series of communiques to the TLHRC expressing our serious concerns in regard to the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of a multilateral approach to defense and advocacy for the fundamental human rights of “Self Determination for all Peoples.”
Our most recent communiqué to the TLHRC was on September 13, 2020, wherein we stated:
“In our letter to the USMCA Working Group of the US House of
Representatives on September 13th of last 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
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 be 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 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) regarding projects which impact their collective rights.”
Several speakers during the virtual hearing
mentioned Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization
as an important international instrument of validation and accountability in
defense and advocacy of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As the first international treaty to affirm
the identity of Indigenous Peoples as “Peoples” in full recognition of
our common humanity which is the essential principle of all human rights
standards, laws, and aspirations, the ILO Convention 169 has served here in
Phoenix, Arizona as the definitive element of the Macehualli Day Labor
Movement. Invoking the provisions in ILO
Convention 169 calling for Special Measures to address the human rights
of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers with Families, our
organization TONATIERRA has successfully established a local operational
protocol in the context of the “Human Rights City” approach to municipal
government.
At this point it is well to take note of the juxtaposition of the operational
principles of Convention 169 and the recent adoption of the trilateral trade
agreement of the USMCA, which includes a chapter on Indigenous Peoples
Rights.
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 in 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.
Additionally, since Mexico is a treaty signatory to ILO Convention 169 and must report to the international community on a regular basis on how the rights of Indigenous Peoples as migrant workers are being protected, there is an open question before the TLHRC and the US Congress as a whole, which is how is the prevention of discrimination towards Indigenous Peoples as migrant workers with families being addressed under the framework of USMCA? What instruments of accountability exist in the US and Canadian labor markets and economic institutions that guarantee recognition and respect for the human rights of Indigenous Peoples as migrant workers with families?
We submit that it is not acceptable or appropriate to reduce the Indigenous Peoples to the nomenclature of “populations” in the official discourse and testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. The designation of Indigenous Peoples, as “Peoples, equal to all other peoples....” is a fundamental legacy of the global human rights movement of Indigenous Peoples which should be acknowledged at least, if not honored.
Finally, noting the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Organization of American States (2016) and the OAS Resolution "Pandemic and Human Rights in the Americas" adopted on April 10, 2020 which proclaimed :
Indigenous Peoples
57. Refrain from promoting legislative initiatives and/or advances in the implementation of productive and/or extractive projects in the territories of indigenous peoples during the duration of the pandemic, due to the impossibility of carrying out prior consultation processes, free and informed (due to the WHO recommendation to adopt social distancing measures) provided in ILO Convention 169 and other relevant international and national instruments on the matter.
Any governmental policy that attempts to deliver a fake manufactured approval to any economic project in violation to our right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent under any local, national, regional, or continental plan during the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be denounced, nullified, and ultimately rejected by the power of our Original Nations in defense of our collective right of Self Determination and the Territorial Integrity of Mother Earth.
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Thank you for your kind consideration of this message. May we endeavor to work together in a comprehensive and multilateral approach to the defense and advocacy of the Human Rights Indigenous Peoples of the Great Turtle Island Abya Yala [Americas].
Sincerely,
Tupac Enrique Acosta
TONATIERRA
Continental Commission Abya Yala
TONATIERRA
Secretariat
tonal@tonatierra.org
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