Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - UN
DRIP
After more than 30 years of negotiation between nation-states and Indigenous
Peoples worldwide, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -
UN DRIP was finally adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13,
2007. An overwhelming majority of 143 voted in favor, with only 4 negative
votes (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States), and 11 abstentions. Such
human rights declarations become universally applicable upon their adoption
by the UN regardless of how individual states vote. The new Constitution of
Brazil in 1988 helped further empower the Organized Indigenous Movement in
the country, reflecting a victory of its own making. The initial draft of the UN
DRIP had just been put together in 1985 by the Working Group on Indigenous
Populations, the world's largest human rights forum. The right to cultural
diversity, the right to quality education and health care, and the fundamental right
to occupy ancestral territories, featured in both UN DRIP and the new Brazilian
Constitution, are main themes addressed in this topic. Like other Indigenous
organizations across the globe, the Organized Indigenous Movement in Brazil
helped push for the adoption of the UN DRIP. However, despite the provisions
of the Declaration, the concrete implementation of such rights is far from reality.
Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, Australia, China, India, and all over the world still
live in poverty and ill health and face tremendous racial discrimination in their
daily lives.
The situation for Indigenous Peoples in the United States is not much better
than elsewhere in the world. In fact, while the Indigenous population in the US
(2 million individuals) occupy less than .02% of the total national territory, in
Brazil the 900,000 Indigenous persons have secured rights to about 2% of the
country's land - 10 times more than in the U. S. Furthermore, the incidence of
degenerative diseases such as cancer and diabetes in Indigenous communities is
at least 5 times higher in the U. S. than in Brazil. This is a direct consequence
of the United States' refusal to support the human rights of women, children,
and ethnic minorities, and thus guarantee health equity for all. Support for the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - as well as other international
treaties - is crucial!
Mapping Time, Space and the Body is a contribution to the struggle of
protecting Indigenous Peoples' rights worldwide.
HOW THIS TOPIC IS ORGANIZED
Mapping Time, Space and the Body: Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematical
Thinking in Brazil is divided into 3 parts and 6 chapters.
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