GIC Issues - UNDRIP

GIC will proceed in accord with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and work to see UNDRIP honored.  In respect to borders and the cultural, social, and economic impacts upon tribal nations, UNDRIP affirms:
 

    “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions to be secure in their enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.”

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    “Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.”

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    “Indigenous peoples have their right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social, and cultural institutions, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the State.”

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    “Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders . . . States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the implementation of this right.”

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With existing negative statutes in nation states internationally, and prospective policy positions floated by the Trump Administration in the US - from privatizing Indian lands to cutting vital social programs – the need for UNDRIP has never been more vital. Those states that voted to adopt UNDRIP at the UN, and those that subsequently supported it, like the US, must honor it – and be held accountable when they fail to do so.

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