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Pita Sharples and John Key at Waitangi - Source: ONE News -
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Here are some facts about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
- The Declaration says indigenous people have the right to the lands and resources they traditionally owned.
- They have the right to self government
- They also have the right to maintain distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions.
- The declaration is non binding, which means it has no legal force
- There are around 370 million indigenous people on the planet
- The Declaration was first adopted by the UN General Assembly during its 62nd session at UN Headquarters in New York City on 13 September 2007
- The idea originated in 1982 when the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) set up its Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP), on the problem of discrimination faced by indigenous peoples
- The vote in 2007 was 143 countries in favour, four against, and 11 abstaining. The four that voted against were Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States
- The abstaining countries were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine
- Another 34 member states were absent from the vote
- Bolivia has become the first country to approve the UN declaration of indigenous rights and make it law there.
- Australia signed the declaration after Kevin Rudd came to power. His government formally endorsed it on April 3, 2009.
- New Zealand, under PM John Key, which is in government with the support of the Maori Party, approved the declaration on April 20, 2010
- Canada is on the path of approving the declaration
- The US and the UK have yet to approve the declaration. The US
states the declaration does not provide a clear definition of
exactly whom the term "indigenous peoples" is intended to cover and
the UK states that no specific group in the UK can be described as
"indigenous" in the way the Declaration states.
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