Red Power United fully supports and is based on the fundamental
ideas and principles of the 46 articles of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous includes: First nations, Staus - Non Status, Métis and
Inuit people.
46 articles of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples:
Recognizing that the situation of indigenous peoples varies from
region to region and from country to country and that the significance
of national and regional particularities and various historical and
cultural backgrounds should be taken into consideration,
Solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be
pursued in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect:
Article 1
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective
or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as
recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.
Article 2
Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other
peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of
discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based
on their indigenous origin or identity.
Article 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of
that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development.
Article 4
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.
Article 5
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their
distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions,
while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the
political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.
Article 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.
Article 7
1. Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental
integrity, liberty and security of person.
2. Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom,
peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to
any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly
removing children of the group to another group.
Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be
subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and
redress for:
(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their
integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic
identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of
their lands, territories or resources;
(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect
of violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or
ethnic discrimination directed against them.
Article 9
Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an
indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the traditions
and customs of the community or nation concerned. No
discrimination of any kind may arise from the exercise of such a right.
Article 10
Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or
territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and
informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after
agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with
the option of return.
Article 11
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their
cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain,
protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of
their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artefacts,
designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and
literature.
2. States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms, which
may include restitution, developed in conjunction with indigenous
peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and
spiritual property taken without their free, prior and informed
consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
Article 12
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and
teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies;
the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their
religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their
ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human
remains.
2. States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of
ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through
fair, transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction
with indigenous peoples concerned.
Article 13
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and
transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral
traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to
designate and retain their own names for communities, places and
persons.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is
protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand
and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings,
where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other
appropriate means.
Article 14
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
educational systems and institutions providing education in their own
languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of
teaching and learning.
2. Indigenous individuals, particularly children, have the right to all
levels and forms of education of the State without discrimination.
3. States shall, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, take effective
measures, in order for indigenous individuals, particularly children,
including those living outside their communities, to have access, when
possible, to an education in their own culture and provided in their
own language.
Article 15
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity of
their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which shall be
appropriately reflected in education and public information.
2. States shall take effective measures, in consultation and
cooperation with the indigenous peoples concerned, to combat
prejudice and eliminate discrimination and to promote tolerance,
understanding and good relations among indigenous peoples and all
other segments of society.
Article 16
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in
their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous
media without discrimination.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned
media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. States, without
prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage
privately owned media to adequately reflect indigenous cultural
diversity.
Article 17
1. Indigenous individuals and peoples have the right to enjoy fully all
rights established under applicable international and domestic labour
law.
2. States shall in consultation and cooperation with indigenous
peoples take specific measures to protect indigenous children from
economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to
be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be
harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or
social development, taking into account their special vulnerability and
the importance of education for their empowerment.
3. Indigenous individuals have the right not to be subjected to any
discriminatory conditions of labour and, inter alia, employment or
salary.
Article 18
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in
matters which would affect their rights, through representatives
chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as
well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making
institutions.
Article 19
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous
peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in
order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting
and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may
affect them.
Article 20
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their
political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in
the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development,
and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic
activities.
2. Indigenous peoples deprived of their means of subsistence and
development are entitled to just and fair redress.
Article 21
1. Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the
improvement of their economic and social conditions, including, inter
alia, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training and
retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security.
2. States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate, special
measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and
social conditions. Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and
special needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and
persons with disabilities.
Article 22
1. Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of
indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with
disabilities in the implementation of this Declaration.
2. States shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples,
to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full
protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and
discrimination.
Article 23
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities
and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular,
indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing
and determining health, housing and other economic and social
programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such
programmes through their own institutions.
Article 24
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and
to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their
vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Indigenous individuals
also have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social
and health services.
2. Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall
take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full
realization of this right.
Article 25
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their
distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or
otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal
seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future
generations in this regard.
Article 26
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and
resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise
used or acquired.
2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control
the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of
traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as
those which they have otherwise acquired.
3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands,
territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with
due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the
indigenous peoples concerned.
Article 27
States shall establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous
peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and
transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous peoples’
laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, to recognize and
adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to their lands,
territories and resources, including those which were traditionally
owned or otherwise occupied or used. Indigenous peoples shall have
the right to participate in this process.
Article 28
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can
include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and
equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which
they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and
which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged
without their free, prior and informed consent.
2. Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned,
compensation shall take the form of lands, territories and resources
equal in quality, size and legal status or of monetary compensation or
other appropriate redress.
Article 29
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and
protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their
lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and
implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such
conservation and protection, without discrimination.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or
disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or
territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and
informed consent.
3. States shall also take effective measures to ensure, as needed, that
programmes for monitoring, maintaining and restoring the health of
indigenous peoples, as developed and implemented by the peoples
affected by such materials, are duly implemented.
Article 30
1. Military activities shall not take place in the lands or territories of
indigenous peoples, unless justified by a relevant public interest or
otherwise freely agreed with or requested by the indigenous peoples
concerned.
2. States shall undertake effective consultations with the indigenous
peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular
through their representative institutions, prior to using their lands or
territories for military activities.
Article 31
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and
develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional
cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences,
technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources,
seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral
traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and
visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain,
control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such
cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural
expressions.
2. In conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take effective
measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.
Article 32
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop
priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or
territories and other resources.
2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous
peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in
order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval
of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources,
particularly in connection with the development, utilization or
exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
3. States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress
for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to
mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual
impact.
Article 33
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own identity
or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions. This
does not impair the right of indigenous individuals to obtain
citizenship of the States in which they live.
2. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the structures and
to select the membership of their institutions in accordance with their
own procedures.
Article 34
Indigenous peoples have the right to promote, develop and maintain
their institutional structures and their distinctive customs,
spirituality, traditions, procedures, practices and, in the cases where
they exist, juridical systems or customs, in accordance with
international human rights standards.
Article 35
Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the responsibilities of
individuals to their communities.
Article 36
1. 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.
2. States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples,
shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the
implementation of this right.
Article 37
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance
and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements concluded with States or their successors and to have
States honour and respect such treaties, agreements and other
constructive arrangements.
2. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as diminishing or
eliminating the rights of indigenous peoples contained in treaties,
agreements and other constructive arrangements.
Article 38
States in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall
take the appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to
achieve the ends of this Declaration.
Article 39
Indigenous peoples have the right to have access to financial and
technical assistance from States and through international
cooperation, for the enjoyment of the rights contained in this
Declaration.
Article 40
Indigenous peoples have the right to access to and prompt decision
through just and fair procedures for the resolution of conflicts and
disputes with States or other parties, as well as to effective remedies
for all infringements of their individual and collective rights. Such a
decision shall give due consideration to the customs, traditions, rules
and legal systems of the indigenous peoples concerned and
international human rights.
Article 41
The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and
other intergovernmental organizations shall contribute to the full
realization of the provisions of this Declaration through the
mobilization, inter alia, of financial cooperation and technical
assistance. Ways and means of ensuring participation of indigenous
peoples on issues affecting them shall be established.
Article 42
The United Nations, its bodies, including the Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, and specialized agencies, including at the country
level, and States shall promote respect for and full application of the
provisions of this Declaration and follow up the effectiveness of this
Declaration.
Article 43
The rights recognized herein constitute the minimum standards for
the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the
world.
Article 44
All the rights and freedoms recognized herein are equally guaranteed
to male and female indigenous individuals.
Article 45
Nothing in this Declaration may be construed as diminishing or
extinguishing the rights indigenous peoples have now or may acquire
in the future.
Article 46
1. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, people, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to
perform any act contrary to the Charter of the United Nations or
construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would
dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or
political unity of sovereign and independent States.
2. In the exercise of the rights enunciated in the present Declaration,
human rights and fundamental freedoms of all shall be respected. The
exercise of the rights set forth in this Declaration shall be subject only
to such limitations as are determined by law and in accordance with
international human rights obligations. Any such limitations shall be
non-discriminatory and strictly necessary solely for the purpose of
securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of
others and for meeting the just and most compelling requirements of
a democratic society.
3. The provisions set forth in this Declaration shall be interpreted in
accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, respect for
human rights, equality, non-discrimination, good governance and
good faith.
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