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Alaska should be listed as non-self-governing territory

December 9th 1:55 am | Ian Erlich Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Editor's Note: The following speech was delivered by Ian Erlich to Human Rights Council of the United Nations on Sept. 21, 2011.

Madame President, Special Rapporteur James Anaya, Distinguished Members of the Human Rights Council and all distinguished participants:

The right to self-determination is an inherent right that can never be redefined or limited by domestic law. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can in no way reduce the scope and application of the right to self-determination.

While we support the rights in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this Declaration cannot erase the existing obligations to the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska and Hawaii or any Indigenous Peoples who are subjects of international Law under existing international treaty rights.

Mr. Special Rapporteur, the Report on extractive indus- tries must include the recognition of the right to self-determination.

In the case of Alaska and Hawaii, it is our assertion that the United States of America, as signatory to the Charter of the United Nations, must fulfill its inter national obligations under Article 73 and other provisions of the Charter.

Our right to subsistence and our right to our territory and resources must be addressed in accordance with these international obligations.

Poverty exists in our world for a variety of reasons, one of the most egregious of which is poverty due to the exploitation and colonization of lands and resources which right- fully belong to the local peoples. Alaska's Indigenous Peoples are being denied the right to protect our culture and way of life and the right to develop our own resources for our social and economic wellbeing. My people, the Inupiaq people, were blessed with abundant natural resources, yet many of us struggle to even survive while witnessing billions of dollars of wealth taken before our eyes.

The only honorable and rightful way to remedy this injustice is to recognize the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska's right to self-determination. The Territory of Alaska was unlawfully removed from the list of non-self-governing territories, and the United Nations, when it voted, neglected to ensure that the United States followed the proper rules and procedures outlined in Article 73 and in the General Assembly resolutions. Clearly the vote for Statehood was not a free and informed expression of the political will of the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska for many reasons, the most obvious of which is the majority of voters were not in fact Indigenous Peoples of Alaska. To correct this gross violation of the International Law, Alaska must be re-added to the list of non-self-governing territories.

Ian Erlich is a Kotzebue resident and CEO of Manillaq Association. He can be reached at ierlich@maniilaq.org.

 

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