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UN To Investigate Plight of US Native Americans For First Time [Domestic Interference?]
Guardian (UK) ^ | April 22, 2012 | Ewen MacAskill

Posted on 04/22/2012 1:00:35 PM PDT by Steelfish

UN To Investigate Plight of US Native Americans For First Time The UN human rights inquiry will focus on the living conditions of the 2.7 million Native Americans living in the US

Ewen MacAskill 22 April 2012

Many US Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas plagued with poverty, alcoholism other social problems.

The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, the first such mission in its history.

The human rights inquiry led by James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, is scheduled to begin on Monday.

Many of the country's estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, incest and other social problems.

The UN mission is potentially contentious, with some US conservatives likely to object to international interference in domestic matters. Since being appointed as rapporteur in 2008, Anaya has focused on natives of Central and South America.

A UN statement said: "This will be the first mission to the US by an independent expert designated by the UN human rights council to report on the rights of the indigenous peoples."

Anaya, a University of Arizona professor of human rights, said: "I will examine the situation of the American Indian/Native American, Alaska Native and Hawaiian peoples against the background of the United States' endorsement of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples."

The US signed up in 2010 to the declaration, which establishes minimum basic rights for indigenous people globally.

Anaya said: "My visit aims at assessing how the standards of the declaration are reflected in US law and policy, and identifying needed reforms and good practices."

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 04/22/2012 1:00:41 PM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

The UN can go pound sand, far as I’m concerned.


2 posted on 04/22/2012 1:05:36 PM PDT by Celtic Cross (The brain is the weapon; everything else is just accessories. --FReeper Joe Brower)
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To: Steelfish

Really? “The plight?” It is my understanding that they have reservations over which they and they alone exercise jurisdiction, that if any one of them can demonstrate 1/8th Native American blood, they get tribal benefits, and that the equal protection clause of the US Constitution is set aside in their case. Some plight. The fact that some of them drink firewater, won’t go to school and are still fighting the war is not the UN’s business.


3 posted on 04/22/2012 1:09:59 PM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Steelfish
Under what authority? Time to tell the U.N. to GTHO of the U.S.
4 posted on 04/22/2012 1:12:06 PM PDT by liberalh8ter (If Barack has a memory like a steel trap, why can't he remember what the Constitution says?)
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To: Steelfish

This is stupid. Under our system, the Indian Nation exists as a Nation itself. The tribal councils rule on their land kinda like any other government or embassy has a certain sovereignty on our soil.

The casinos in Oklahoma also seem to keep the dollars rolling to the tribal coffers too.


5 posted on 04/22/2012 1:16:37 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: yldstrk

What gets lost in reporting such as this, is that Indians are American citizens, and are not required to live on reservations. They can and do move into mainstream society, if they choose to do so.

Talk of alcoholism, unemployment, poverty, etc. on Indian reservations is similar to such discussions about conditions in ghettos, if you think about it.

I may get flamed for saying this, but, Indians on reservations which have casinos are doing well. Some of those reservations are using casino profits to develop businesses other than gambling, to the benefit of their people.

Bottom line is that Indians can and do move out of the bad conditions found on some reservations. And we should encourage that trend. And maybe someday, the reservations can be done away with altogether.


6 posted on 04/22/2012 1:18:05 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Steelfish

What should be investigated (but not by the UN) is the distribution of casino profits, as well as the ‘salaries’ or fees paid to Natives before any profit is declared.


7 posted on 04/22/2012 1:22:55 PM PDT by Michael.SF. (When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras.)
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To: Steelfish

Maybe the UN can devise some kind of Casinos For Food program.


8 posted on 04/22/2012 1:24:34 PM PDT by samtheman ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc)
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To: yldstrk
I live a mile from a traditional village on the Yukon. Indians, good bunch of people that want to be left alone so they can live pretty much how they always have. The govt gives them a little money every month, not all that much; and Indian's world view is way different than us greedy White folks. They are quite happy enough to live off what the land & river provides as long as the govt gives them enough to buy a little booze and that's the truth. Once ya get to know them, you figure out they are all OK; most my friends are Indians actually. For us Whites to attempt to make them like us is just as wrong as the genocide that has been put on them Indians since us Whites got into the Country.

Best thing we could do is give the Indians all the BLM, Fed Park Land, Wilderness Lands for them to operate or take care of;;;fire every last one of the Fed employees doing it now. The Indians would do a better job at it and wouldn't be chasing hunters, prospectors, and all other Americans off our land. The Indians have pretty much had all their lands stolen over the last 150 years anyway, by our govt. Indians really are good stewards of the land, kinda central to how they see the world.

9 posted on 04/22/2012 1:29:47 PM PDT by Eska
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To: Steelfish

Dear U.N.:

Pound sand.

Thank you.


10 posted on 04/22/2012 1:39:17 PM PDT by RightOnline (I am Andrew Breitbart!)
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To: Steelfish

I’m living for the day when those blue helmeted bastards are run out of town by the great American uprising, and their stinking wannabe Tower of Babel razed to the ground.


11 posted on 04/22/2012 1:55:08 PM PDT by mkjessup (Finley Peter Dunne- "Politics ain't beanbag")
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To: Steelfish
U.N. SPOKESMAN: "We're going to investigate Native American plight in the U.S. It's horrific the way they are treated."

U.N. SPOKESMAN: "Genocide in Darfur? Huh? What's a Darfur? What's your point?

12 posted on 04/22/2012 2:00:35 PM PDT by jmax (Ahhhh...life must be so frigging good under the U.N.'s thumb)
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To: Steelfish
Well since I was born here I am a native American as well—but I am sure the UN is talking about early Americans because we have no conclusive evidence that the officially recognized American Indian tribes we have now were the “first” or “aboriginal” Americans (in fact there is very good evidence that some of the first Americans were Caucasian)...

...anyhoo, just another fascist racist reparations scheme against the conservative white man.

UN PC BS

13 posted on 04/22/2012 2:05:05 PM PDT by Happy Rain (VOTE FOR OBAMA OR HE WILL EAT YOUR DOG!!!)
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To: Nachum

For the list.


14 posted on 04/22/2012 2:31:57 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: jmax

UN Spox: “What genocide in Tibet? What slave trade in Cameroon? What nuclear cooperation between Iran and the DPRK?”


15 posted on 04/22/2012 2:35:58 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: mkjessup

Just turn the UN building into a giant brothel; that would be a fitting tribute.


16 posted on 04/22/2012 2:39:09 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Army Air Corps

The UN doesn’t pay for it—they rape it.

Look at Africa.


17 posted on 04/22/2012 2:46:30 PM PDT by Happy Rain (VOTE FOR OBAMA OR HE WILL EAT YOUR DOG!!!)
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To: Eska
and Indian's world view is way different than us greedy White folks.

What do you mean "us", kemosabe? If you are a greedy white person, I feel sorry for you. Don't presume to speak for the rest of the country.
18 posted on 04/22/2012 2:51:35 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Army Air Corps
Just turn the UN building into a giant brothel; that would be a fitting tribute.

Hell, it's a giant brothel right NOW with all the whores in that place! lol
19 posted on 04/22/2012 3:11:38 PM PDT by mkjessup (Finley Peter Dunne- "Politics ain't beanbag")
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I doubt the tribes would EVER let the reservations be “done away with”. and sure, Native Americans are not required to live on reservations.


20 posted on 04/22/2012 3:11:48 PM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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