Miscellaneous United Nations Documents

“The Year of Indigenous Peoples” opening address at the UN by Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper, Chief Oren Lyons
Date: 1992
Organization: Haudenosaunee Confederacy
Document Type: Address
Link: PDF

In this address to the United Nations, Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper Chief Oren Lyons, speaks on behalf of the Indigenous People of North America to bring forth issues that have plagued First Nations and Peoples since European contact. Among the issues Lyons raise include: nuclear and toxic waste dumps poisoning Indigenous peoples and the environments they depend on for sustenance; treaty violations, the failure of U.S. federal law to recognize and support religious freedoms for Indigenous Peoples resulting in the desecration of Sacred Sites; indigenous land rights; and the political imprisonment of Leonard Peltier.

“A Basic Call to Consciousness” Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World
Date: 1977
Organization: Haudenosaunee Confederacy
Document Type: Address
Link: HTML

This paper was presented to the United Nations in 1977 by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also known as Iroquois or Six Nations). In this address they tell of the conditions of political, economic and legal oppression suffered by their people since the time of European contact. They outline several ways how the international community can help them to overcome their oppression.

 

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