IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 712 
Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 
and commending the United Nations General Assembly for its adoption 
of the Declaration on September 13, 2007. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 4, 2007 
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the Declaration on the Rights of 
Indigenous Peoples and commending the United Nations 
General Assembly for its adoption of the Declaration 
on September 13, 2007. 
Whereas, since 1982, indigenous rights leaders and human 
rights supporters have actively worked on drafting a Dec-
laration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for consid-
eration by the United Nations as an important statement 
of international law and policy; 
Whereas the social, cultural, and political rights of the ap-
proximately 300,000,000 indigenous peoples throughout 
the world have been in urgent need of clarification due 
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•HRES 712 IH 
to the collective nature of their rights, in contrast to the 
individual rights protected under the Human Rights Dec-
laration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly 
in 1948; 
Whereas indigenous peoples of the world share a common 
characteristic in that their societies are formed by their 
connection to the lands of their ancestors from time im-
memorial, such connections serving as the source of their 
culture, traditions, beliefs, knowledge systems, and social 
values as collective or tribal peoples; 
Whereas countries throughout the world have struggled to ac-
commodate the strivings of their indigenous peoples to 
preserve the cultures, traditions, and ways of their ances-
tors by preserving and maintaining societies that remain 
separate physically, culturally, and socially from the dom-
inant societies that prevail in each such country; 
Whereas the principle of self-determination has emerged as 
the common cause and aspiration of all indigenous peo-
ples in order that they might define and negotiate a rela-
tionship and a separate space within the larger society 
and country within which they are located, including the 
preservation of their ancestral lands, their indigenous 
language and culture, and the right and ability to govern 
themselves free of oppression and undue pressures to 
abandon their traditional ways and assimilate into the 
larger society; 
Whereas of all the countries throughout the world and among 
Member States of the United Nations, the United States 
has maintained an exemplary body of law and policy to-
wards its indigenous peoples, the 562 United States Trib-
al Nations located in the lower 48 states and Alaska, 
which laws and policies have recognized for over 200 
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•HRES 712 IH 
years an inherent right of self-governance, have resulted 
in the negotiation of over 500 nation-to-nation treaty 
agreements, 350 of which have been solemnly ratified by 
the United States Senate, and have, since 1975, success-
fully implemented a policy of self-determination that ex-
plicitly supports the exercise of tribal self-governance and 
economic and social sustainability of United States Tribal 
Nation societies; 
Whereas, in 1982, the United Nations Subcommission on 
Human Rights formed a working group charged with 
drafting a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peo-
ples; 
Whereas, in 1993, the draft Declaration was reported to the 
General Assembly and was debated and deliberated upon 
until the fall 2006 session, with a majority of Member 
States voting to table the Declaration until their Fall 
2007 session in order to afford Member States more time 
to study and consider the Declaration; 
Whereas, on June 29, 2006, after more than 24 years of ef-
fort, the Working Group, indigenous peoples of the world, 
and their supporters obtained official adoption of the 
Declaration by a majority vote of the United Nations 
Human Rights Council during their inaugural meeting in 
Geneva, Switzerland, with 30 Member States voting in 
the affirmative, 2 in the negative, and 12 abstentions; 
Whereas, on September 13, 2007, by a vote of 143 in favor 
to 4 against, with 11 abstentions, the United Nations 
General Assembly in its 61st session, adopted the Dec-
laration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and 
Whereas, by virtue of this historic document, the United Na-
tions General Assembly affirmed several guiding prin-
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•HRES 712 IH 
ciples for recognizing, promoting and protecting the 
rights of indigenous peoples, and setting a viable frame-
work for continuing dialogue: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) finds that the relationship between the 
United States and the indigenous peoples of the 
United States, the United States Tribal Nations, 
grounded in the United States Constitution and im-
plemented through numerous Indian treaties, Fed-
eral statutes, and policies, may be considered a 
model by other countries in the world in recognizing 
and upholding the precious rights of self-determina-
tion and self-governance; and 
(2) notwithstanding the recognition and protec-
tion afforded United States Tribal Nations under 
United States law and policy, the interests of such 
tribal nations may be further advanced and pro-
tected in important ways by adoption of the Declara-
tion in that United States Tribal Treaty rights, cul-
tural rights, and principles of self-determination will 
be validated and affirmed as United States policy, 
thus protecting such rights on an international level. 
Æ 
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