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09/14/2007: "Historic UN declaration a boost for Naga rights Morung Express News"

Historic UN declaration a boost for Naga rights Morung Express News
Dimapur The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted Thursday a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which upholds human rights of the more than 300 million indigenous peoples around the world. The 192-nation body voted 143 against four to adopt the declaration, which is considered a victory for the indigenous inhabitants despite the strong objections from countries with large indigenous communities.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand voted against the measure. “The Declaration encourages harmonious and cooperative relations between states and indigenous peoples, and recognizes a wide array of rights specific to indigenous peoples around the globe,” a UN statement announced. This declaration will provide a fillip to the Naga struggle. Nagaland is ahead of New York – where the declaration was made – by nine and a half hours. Dr Lanusashi Longkumer, a faculty of Nagaland University who has for long been associated with fighting for human rights, said the declaration is a positive sign in the Naga context. It would show that “our struggle is not in vain.”
The biggest ‘but’ is that many Nagas do not realize that they are indigenous and form part of a larger group of indigenous peoples of the world. “We are quite ignorant of our rights,” Longkumer said. From all across the world, other indigenous people have been silently struggling for their rights in remote areas, he added. “Their struggles are now bearing fruit because of the declaration.”
The UN Declaration represents a significant recognition of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of hundreds of millions of indigenous people around the world who suffer from human rights abuses such as forced relocation and assimilation, seizure and exploitation of lands, territories and natural resources, discrimination and a disproportionate amount of poverty. Indigenous languages, cultures and ways of life continue to be threatened without international legal protection. The Declaration will address many of these issues by providing the moral and legal backing for several concepts seen as critical to the preservation of the collective rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous peoples, who belong to more than 5,000 distinct nations and groups.
The UN Declaration was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council during its inaugural session in June 2006, and recommended to the UN General Assembly for final passage. Adoption of the Declaration by the General Assembly represents an affirmation of the position of the Human Rights Council as a key standard-setting body within the United Nations system.
Indigenous peoples from around the world, many of whom have worked tirelessly for the adoption of the Declaration since its inception, were present at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday to witness the adoption of the Declaration.
Nepuni Piku, who has been following the issues of the indigenous people for over ten years, stated: “It is a historic moment for indigenous peoples around the world since the adoption of such a monumental declaration provides them with a tool to translate their denied rights into reality. This adoption by the UN General Assembly will allow Indigenous peoples space to exercise hitherto deprived rights both individual and collective in consistent with the international law.”
Piku, who is a former International Co-ordinator of the London based International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal People of the Tropical Rainforest, which was instrumental in creating a global coalition for Indigenous peoples’ rights, said:
“The debate in the past many decades has been on whether indigenous people constitute ‘a peoples’ who are entitled with the rights to self determination. Nagas are very much part of the world indigenous community but their unique historical struggle puts them within the context of national liberation against both colonial and neocolonial forces enduring both oppression and suppression without enjoying their basic rights and dignity as any human community. The door has been open now for Nagas too but it will now depend on how creatively we use this document to fulfill our rights and aspirations.”