INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE & GOVERNANCE RECOVERY

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Indigenous leaders and faculty of the Human Rights Clinic, School of Law, University of Texas at Austin and Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan will give public statements and discuss the international and Indigenous law analysis of the Texas-Mexico Border Wall


 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(en Ingles y Espanol)


Media Advisory

May 29, 2012

Indigenous leaders and faculty of the Human Rights Clinic, School of Law, University of Texas at Austin and  Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan will give public statements and discuss the international and Indigenous law analysis of the Texas-Mexico Border Wall under the Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (80th Session).

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada— UBC Okanagan Indigenous Studies professor, Dr. Margo Tamez will host an international telephonic press conference and will be joined by Indigenous leaders from the Texas-Mexico border region and Professor Ariel Dulitzky, Director of the Human Rights Clinic, School of Law, University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 at 10:00 PST.  The group will discuss the 9-month long collaborative study of the Texas-Mexico border wall from the international human rights and Indigenous rights principles and the submission of the legal brief to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (80th Session).  On May 10, 2012, Tamez and Dulitzky submitted their 134-page legal analysis of the Texas-Mexico border wall to the UN CERD, calling for international intervention due to the border wall’s severe discriminatory impacts upon Native Americans, Native Mexican Americans, Indigenous Peoples and poor Latinos.  

What:  Indigenous leaders and law and Indigenous Studies faculty to speak about UN CERD submission on Texas-Mexico Border Wall

When:  May 30, 2012, 10:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. PST

Where:  Telephonic
                 Dial in #: 1-877-807-8664, x 78664
                 Participant Code: 0155788
·   Only 26 phone lines will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. 
·   Members of the press are strongly advised to dial in promptly at 10:00 PST. for the 15-minute, pre-press conference instructions and introductions.
·   The press-conference service will conclude promptly at 12:00 noon PST.

Why:  To inform and educate the public about the human rights, international law and Indigenous legal principles relative to the Texas-Mexico border wall.  To invite open discussion about the severe harms suffered by Indigenous and poor Latino peoples as a direct consequence of the United States’ border wall policy and its negative human, cultural, ecological, and economic impacts.  To illuminate the myriad ways that harms are dominantly shouldered by Indigenous and poor Latino peoples without redress, remedy or restitution and contradicts the principles of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and international law.

For more information contact (in English) Dr. Margo Tamez at 250-807-9837 or margo.tamez@ubc.ca  or
(en Español) Ms. Laura Rivas at lrivas@nnirr.org 510-465-1984, Ext 304, or 510-282-2500.


 
PARA DIFUSIÓN INMEDIATA      


ALERTA DE PRENSA 

29 de Mayo de 2012

Líderes Indígenas y profesores de Derechos humanos y estudios indígenas harán declaraciones púbicas y discutirán el análisis desde el derecho internacional y de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas del muro entre Texas y México que recientemente presentaron al Comité  para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial de las Naciones Unidas.

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canadá— La profesora, Dra. Margo Tamez UBC Okanagan Indigenous Studies realizará una conferencia de prensa telefónica internacional con la participación de líderes indígenas de la región fronteriza entre Texas y México y el Profesor Ariel Dulitzky, Director de la Clínica de Derechos Humanos Human Rights de la University of Texas at Austin el Miércoles 30 de Mayo de 2010 a las 10:00 PST.  El grupo discutirá el estudio que por 9 meses realizaron de manera colaborativa sobre el muro entre Texas y México desde la perspectiva de los Derechos humanos y los Derechos indígenas. El 10 de Mayo de 2012, Tamez y Dulitzky presentaron sus 134-páginas de análisis legal sobre el muro y su severo impacto discriminatorio sobre los pueblos indígenas, pueblos indígenas Americanos-Mexicanos y sobre Latinos pobres al Comité  para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial de las Naciones Unidas (UN CERD).

Qué: Líderes Indígenas y profesores de Derecho y de Estudios Indígenas discutirán sobre la presentación al Comité  para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial de las Naciones Unidas  sobre el muro entre Texas-México

Cuándo: 30 de Mayo de 2012, 10:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. PST

Dónde: Telefónica
                        Marcar #: 1-877-807-8664, x 78664
                        Código de Participante: 0155788
·         Solo 26 líneas telefónicas estarán disponibles de acuerdo al orden de llamada.
·        Miembros de la prensa: se recomienda especialmente marcar a las 10:00 PST. En punto para  15-minutos de instrucciones y presentaciones previas a la conferencia de prensa.
·        Los servicios de la conferencia de prensa terminarán puntualmente a las 12:00 PST.

Por qué: Para informar y educar al público sobre los principios de Derechos humanos, Derecho internacional y Derechos indígenas relativos al muro entre Texas y México. Invitar a una discusión abierta sobre los severos daños que los indígenas y latinos pobres sufren como consecuencia directa de la negativa de Estados Unidos de considerar las consecuencias negativas del impacto humano, cultural, ecológico y económico del muro. Exponer las múltiples formas en que estos daños son sufridos principalmente por indígenas y latinos sin ningún tipo de reparación, remedio o restitución en violación de la Declaración de Naciones unidas sobre Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas y del derecho internacional.

Para mayor información contactar (en ingles) a la Dra. Margo Tamez al 250-807-9837 o margo.tamez@ubc.ca  or
(en Español) Ms. Laura Rivas at lrivas@nnirr.org 510-465-1984, Ext 304, o 510-282-2500.


See also, NNIRR post



Friday, May 25, 2012

INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY: 'Early Warning/Urgent Action' Sought Against US Human Rights Violations at Border Wall







By Gale Courey Toensing (May 24, 2012), INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY

A group representing human, indigenous and women’s rights accuses the United States of violating international human rights laws and private property rights in constructing the security wall along the Mexican border and has asked the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for help to stop the violations.
Ariel Dulizky, director of the Human Rights Clinic, School of Law, University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Margo Tamez (Lipan Apache) on the faculty of the University of British Columbia Okanagan teaching Indigenous Studies, and the Lipan Apache Women Defense, an Indigenous Peoples organization, submitted a request May 10 asking CERD to intervene to stop the continuing “negative impact” of the border wall. “The construction of the wall occurred in a discriminatory manner, and continues to have discriminatory effects. The intervention of the CERD, utilizing its Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures, is necessary to stop the harm that the border wall is continuing to inflict on indigenous communities and poor Latinos,” Tamez and Dulitzky write.

Read more, Indian Country Today

Monday, May 21, 2012

LAW-Defense, UT School of Law Human Rights Clinic, and UBCO Professor Partner on U.N. CERD Submission | Expose Increased U.S. Human Rights Violations along Texas-Mexico Border Wall

(El Calaboz, TX) On May 10, 2012, in another historic move, the Human Rights Clinic, School of Law, at the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Dr. Margo Tamez (Lipan Apache Band of Texas; Faculty of Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan), and alongside the Lipan Apache Women Defense (LAW-Defense), submitted a request for consideration under Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Addressed to Ms. Grabiella Habtom, Secretary of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva, Switzerland, the authors submitted a 134-page critical legal analysis of the United States’ human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples, Native Mexican Americans, and severely marginalized Latinos. In extensive detail, the brief exposes and underscores how the border wall and militarization have severely impacted all life along the Texas-Mexico border, and raises the critical perspectives of impacted peoples, several who provided affidavits, who call into question the legitimacy of the U.S. uses of controversial legislation, armed force, coercion, and eminent domain in the hostile dispossession of Indigenous peoples’ traditional lands, territories and resources.

The group plans to host an international telephonic press conference to discuss the key issues and purpose of the legal brief, the recommendations to the U.N.CERD, hoped-for outcomes, and the need to inform and educate the public and the international legal system about the U.S. government's human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples, Native Mexican Americans, and marginalized Latino peoples who live and work along the Texas-Mexico border.

See full text of the submission to U.N. CERD here:

U.N. CERD Texas-Mexico Border Wall Request-UT LAW HR CLINIC-LAWDEFENSE-MTAMEZ
Please stay tuned for details regarding the International Press Teleconference, forthcoming.