I woke up this Easter Sunday reminding myself to wish my family a ‘Happy Easter’ until it occurred to me how disturbing that phrase is in the context of what Easter represents in the Christian context. It reminds us of the last days of a young spiritual warrior who preached love, tolerance, compassion and the…
Tag Archive: Human Rights
The Needle on the Human Rights Record is stuck and studies prove that only Wonder Woman is strong enough to lift it…Where are the superheroes when we need them? (or the Eighth and Ninth Reports on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 23-24)
No one can listen to a record when it’s stuck or a CD when it’s skipping. This is one of those simple facts of life that not even the best lawyer could dispute. Well, maybe if the best lawyer were paid enough he would dispute anything, but that’s another issue entirely. All of us have…
Attack of the 50 Foot Hollow Discourse and a Note on Monsters(or the Seventh Report on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 22, 2005)
I always had an odd fascination by monsters. Ever since I was a little girl I loved horror stories (Stephen King being one of my oldest heroes) and I had thought until recently this morbid obsession had to do with carrying around a lot of anger. My college thesis on the exploitation of women and…
Racism has a ghostly face (or the Sixth Report on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 21, 2005)
Racism has a ghostly face, with eyes caged by thick intolerance and radiating a pulsing purple hatred. It is a multi-limbed beast, residing in the legislation of governments worldwide that affects the enjoyment of a happy and humane life. Its arms are made up of religious persecution and the misinterpretation of faith, the abuse of…
Vampires Attack the 12th and 13th Meetings of the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights and Bleed Dry Agenda Items 4 and 5 (Or, The Fifth Report on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 18, 2005)
On Friday, March 18, 2005 the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights began its substantive discussion on Agenda Items 4 and 5, Item 4 dealing with the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights, and Item 5 pertaining to The right of peoples…
High Level Hogwash: An Open Letter to the Commission on Human Rights (Or the Third and Fourth Reports on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 16 and 17, 2005)
Esteemed NGO representatives, UN Agencies, Excellencies and government representatives, It is an honor and privilege to be addressing you during this 61st United Nations Commission on Human Rights and I am optimistic that our time together will be fruitful and productive in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. Firstly, I would like to…
The Second Report on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights, March 15, 2005
Thanks to the heroic emergency credentialing of Charles Graves of Interfaith International, I got my badge this morning and entered into the hallowed halls of Geneva’s Fortress United Nations. Many, many thanks to Charles and Interfaith for allowing me to be a part of their delegation, and of course, any opinions expressed within these reports…
The First Report on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights
The 61st UN Commission on Human Rights began on March 14 amidst ‘unprecedented controversy’ And I wasn’t there to see it! Unfortunately, there were administrative problems in issuing my badge (which hopefully will be sorted out by tomorrow) and so I was unable to enter Fortress United Nations Geneva to witness the opening ceremonies. That…
Introduction: Reports on the 61st and Final United Nations Commission on Human Rights, March-April 2005
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my website and read my recent series of reports on the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights. For the record, I am accredited to attend these meetings by Interfaith International, but the views reflected in these reports are purely my own unless expressly noted. As…
The Last Report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, December 3, 2004
Greetings, I apologize that I have not been able to get this report out sooner, but yesterday all of the built up physical, emotional and mental tension of the week simply floored me; I don’t think anyone would have wanted to read a report written in the state I was in. Needless to say, the…
14th Report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, December 1, 2004
Greetings, This will be a far shorter update than yesterday’s (for which I am sure many of you will be thankful!) as most of the day was spent in informal/informal consultations and much of what was discussed yesterday was again rehashed today. The hunger strike and spiritual fast continued on its third day, and there…
13th Report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, November 30, 2004
Greetings, Before I begin I would just like to note that in the 12th report when I listed those who are participating in the hunger strike and spiritual fast, I had erroneously listed Aucan Huillecaman as one of the fasters and would like to amend that statement to let you know that he is not…
12th Report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, November 29, 2004
Greetings, By the good graces of the Spirits and the support of the International League for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples (LIDLIP) as well as Indigenous World Association, I am back again to report on the ‘final’ week of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Please forward…
Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Reports on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 23-25, 2004
Greetings, I am back again with the latest reports for the most recent session of the 10th WGDD. This is not the final report as there are still five days of negotiations which will take place again in Geneva from the 29th of November to the 3rd of December. Please take note that the Report…
Seventh and Eighth reports on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 21 & 22, 2004
Greetings, The negotiations from yesterday, September 21, 2004 were on the issue of lands and territories, another problematic area of the DD for many States. Again, the Nordic Proposal (CRP1) was used as the base document to achieve consensus, even amidst protests that the basis of discussion should still be the original sub-Commission text. I…
Sixth report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 20, 2004
Greetings, As things had left off on Friday, the WG was discussing a proposal that had been put forward by the African Indigenous Caucus, Arctic Caucus, Asian Caucus, Latin American Caucus, Pacific Caucus, American Indian Law Alliance, Assembly of First Nations, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Grand Council of the Crees, Innu Council of Nitassinan, Native…
Fifth report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 17, 2004
Greetings, Before I report on the discussions from the meeting on Friday I just have a few small messages. Firstly, with many apologies, I had said in several reports that the organization CAPAJ had taken a position and spoken on several issues, but actually CAPAJ is not participating this year at the WGDD. The organization…
Fourth report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 16, 2004
Greetings, I would just firstly like to thank everyone who has demonstrated their appreciation of these reports in one form or another and would like to extend my own appreciation of their appreciation! As you may or not may not know, I do these reports on a voluntary basis and in honor of Grampa Tony…
Third report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 15, 2004
Greetings, Today’s discussions/negotiations were about Articles 18, 33, 45, and Preambular Paragraphs 6, 10, 11, 15. This will be a significantly shorter report than I have sent the last two days as there were so many proposals made towards this series of provisions that it would be quite confusing to attempt to elucidate every proposal…
Second report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 14, 2004
Greetings, Today, discussions in the WGDD continued with the so-called no-change articles contained within the Nordic Proposal. Discussions moved on to the operative paragraphs with no changes, and these negotiations began with Article 2. Mr Chavez presented a work plan for the week which includes a day of informal consultations on Friday that will be…
First Report on the 10th Working Group on the Draft Declaration, September 13, 2004
Greetings, As you all know, the 10th WGDD opened today in Geneva and as last year, I will be writing reports summarizing the main events and discussion points of each day’s sessions. Please feel free to forward this report and if anyone would like to be removed from the list do let me know. The…
Report on the Expert Seminar about Treaties, Agreements and Other Constructive Arrangements
December 15-17 2003 Room XV, Palais des Nations Chairperson Willie Littlechild Geneva, Switzerland The Expert Seminar opened on a bitterly cold howling-wind Geneva morning with a statement from Mr. Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights. He reminded those present that this meeting was made possible by a decision made by the Commission…
the last report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 26, 2003
hello my relations, i trust that you are all having a good weekend and for those of you returning home, i hope that all is well and you arrived safe and sound. i figured no one would be able to read this until monday (sorry manu!) so i took some time over the weekend to…
Eighth and ninth reports on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 25, 2003
mitaku oyasin, all my relations how are you all? i’m sorry that i wasn’t able to send a report yesterday but at the last minute i attended a beautiful sweatlodge ceremony with gorgeous people and when i got home the concept of ‘computer’ was beyond me, all i could do was continue to sing and…
seventh report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 23, 2003
hello my relations, i hope everyone is doing well, better than me after today’s meeting! so i know that i keep saying that my reports will be brief and then they really aren’t, but this one really will be. today was just too depressing in the working group to go into too much detail, i…
sixth report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 22, 2003
hello my dear relations, i am back again after a very long day in the working group on the draft declaration. ahh, the days get longer and longer in room 16 and there is not much time left in this session for substantial work to be done. it is amazing to me that only six…
5th report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 21, 2003
hello my relations, i’m sorry that i didn’t send this out on friday but i figured most of you wouldn’t read it until monday anyway so i just took it easy until now. i have had a fabulous weekend! we went to a powwow here in switzerland over the weekend, and although it was not…
4th report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 18, 2003
hello friends, i hope everyone is doing marvelously! i am back again with another report on the goings-on in room 17 during the draft declaration working group. it seems my reports will continue to truncate as the discussions continue as there is much repitition in the proceedings in terms of arguments and the like. as…
Third report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 17, 2003
hello friends, i hope everyone is well and happy as can be. i am afraid that this report will be as brief as i can make it as my brain is this close ( ) to simply shutting down. i will cover everything of importance and summarize the rest. as i have said, if you…
second report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration september 16, 2003
hello everyone! i am back with the second report of the happenings today at the un and the current working group. this one will be a bit more brief than yesterdays as there was much repetition, but i will make sure to cover all salient points. article one of the draft declaration on the rights…
First report on the 9th working group of the draft declaration, september 15, 2003
hello everyone, because i was so kindly accredited for this working group at the un by tony black feather, i have decided to do write-ups of all of the meetings to summarize the major happenings with the current draft declaration on the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples. now, since this is an informal medium,…
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