U.N. Permanent Forum names North American representative

by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today

NEW YORK - Tonya Gonnella Frichner, an impassioned advocate for the rights of more than 370 million indigenous peoples in some 70 countries worldwide, has been named the North American representative to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Frichner is the founder and president of the American Indian Law Alliance and the vice chair of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, both nonprofit indigenous organizations dedicated to supporting, promoting and maintaining sovereignty, human rights and social justice for indigenous peoples through advocacy, grants, training, technical assistance and other assistance.

A citizen of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, Frichner is widely known for her dedicated work as an attorney, educator, advocate and longtime leader on behalf of indigenous peoples' rights throughout North America and beyond.

Born and raised in the Onondaga's traditional territories (what is now known as New York state), Frichner was imbued with and shaped by her people's history and culture, which she then applied through two decades of work in the United Nations and other international forums.

''Her life has been guided and defined by the rich international advocacy heritage of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, as well as by the excellent oratory and critical thinking skills she learned directly from her mother and family, and her chiefs and clan mothers whose ancestors were the first Indigenous Nation to execute a treaty with the new United States in 1776,'' Christopher Peters, president of Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, said in a prepared statement.

Frichner's legacy has impressed her with the power and importance of an indigenous presence in international relations, and of the critical significance of treaty rights and obligations between nation states and indigenous nations, Peters said.

''Clearly, such a perspective will be of great benefit to her new role in the U.N. Permanent Forum,'' Peters said.

The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

The forum is the United Nation's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. The forum holds annual two-week sessions in New York and Geneva.

Frichner's three-year term will begin Jan. 8, 2008, and run until December 2010, a period in which the struggle for the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the U.N. General Assembly will continue to take center stage.

Frichner is committed to the declaration's adoption.

''This document is built of the sweat and tears of indigenous peoples, and when adopted, it will provide hope and optimism for meaningful change for our peoples throughout the world,'' Frichner said in a statement announcing her election as representative to the forum.

The declaration was finalized last year at the forum's fifth session and adopted by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, but last fall the general assembly failed to adopt what has been called ''the most important international instrument for the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples'' by Roberto Mucaro Borrero, of the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus, and chair of the NGO Committee on the Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

During last fall's session, a group of African states, many of which had chosen not to participate during 24 years of negotiating the declaration, blocked its adoption by voting to hold more ''consultations'' about the document. The move was made with the support and encouragement of New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States. These opponents are all countries with large populations of indigenous peoples who own significant land and resources, including more than 560 federally recognized tribes in the United States.

The sixth session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will take place at the United Nations in New York May 14 - 25. This year's special theme is Territories, Lands and Natural Resources.

Bolivian Indigenous President to Meet with North American Native American Leaders

The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ama, an Aymara Indian elected to his country's highest office in December 2005, will meet with American Indian Leaders on Monday, September 28, 2006. The President, along with his country's Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, (also Aymara), is in New York City for the opening of this year's General Assembly at the United Nations.

The meeting is being hosted by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations and the American Indian Law Alliance, an Indigenous peoples' non-governmental organization working with offices in New York City. Mr. Thomas Kruse, one of the President Morales's assistants stated that the meeting was set up at the request of Mr. Morales and is meant to be a substantive exchange between Indigenous leaders from the North and the South to discuss the issues shared by Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. Kent Lebsock, the Executive Director of the American Indian Law Alliance, added the election of President Morales is an historic event for all Indian peoples. For him to honor us by meeting with our traditional Native American leaders is another step in the undeniable presence of Indigenous peoples in international advocacy, especially human
rights."

President Morales' office had specifically requested a small meeting in order to ensure that substantive, frank discussions could occur.

Participants look forward to this being the first of more meetings designed to improve the dialogue between the Bolivian government and American Indian nations and First Nations of Canada. Issues to be discussed include lands, resources and the revitalization of traditional Indigenous processes in government, conservation and environmental management.

The meeting comes at the beginning of the General Assembly session.

It is expected that the United Nations will take up the issue of the Declaration on the Rights of the World's Indigenous Peoples. For over 20 years, Indigenous peoples from around the world have worked with human rights experts to develop this international human rights instrument. Finally, having made it's way to the General Assembly, it is being supported by many United Nations' member states and Indigenous nations, organizations and communities around the world. However it is also facing strong opposition from the United States, Canada, and Australia. The meeting between Morales and North American Indian leaders will also focus on ensuring the passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Haudenosaunee, Lakota and Cree nations will participate along with urban Native Americans from New York City. The opening ceremony will be by Sid Hill, Tadodaho of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations, Iroquois Confederacy) from Onondaga in upstate New York. Oren Lyons, also from Onondaga; Alex White Plume, tribal chairman and a traditional leader of the Oglala Sioux Nation; along with Willie Littlechild and Rick Lightning (Ermineskin Cree Nation), John Bull (Louis Bull Cree Nation), and Raymond Cutknife (Samson Cree Nation), will also participate.

Local leadership includes Tonya Gonnella Frichner a citizen of the Onondaga Nation and the meeting's moderator, Roberto Borrero, Taino, and Esmeralda Brown, a long time United Nations advocate for Indigenous rights.