Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest in the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Populations :: Essays Papers

Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest in the Decade of the conceptions Indigenous PopulationsIntroductionOn 1 January 1994, the Mayan peoples of Chiapas, Mexico participated in an armed uprising in protest of the implementation of the North American Free sight Agreement (NAFTA). Following a strong trend of harassment, and mistreatment of Mexicos indigenous populations, the implementation of NAFTA all but abolished the land claims of Mexicos Indians. The Zapatista uprising, as it has been termed, brought global precaution to the indigenous human rights violations in Mexico, and consequently, a strong interest in the plight of the worlds indigenous peoples resulted in the global community.In a 1994 U.N. orchestrated commission on the rights of the worlds indigenous populations, it was concluded that an increase in internationalist cooperation for the solution of problems faced by indigenous peoples was infallible for improvement of their condition across such areas as environm ent and natural resources, health, education, and human rights. As a result, the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights declared the historic period 1995-2004 to be the Decade of the Worlds Indigenous Populations. The theme of the decade was to be partnership in action, and the main objectives were to strengthen the role of the international community in enforcing international human rights treaties, to promote the discovery of viable solutions to Indigenous-State conflicts through mediation, discussion, and cooperation, and to draft a declaration of the rights of indigenous people. In this paper, I result analyze the amount of progress that has been made in the Native American condition in relation to U.S. government cooperation with the First Nations, with a specific taper on the tribes of the Pacific Northwest. I testament begin with a brief, but comprehensive history of U.S.-Native American relations, with a focus on U.S. government policy. Next, I will conduct a case study of the Pacific Northwest, specifically dealing with how the global pressure of the Decade has impacted treaty negotiations and multi-lateral cooperation in the sportfishing industry, forest service, and tribal gaming. I will then discuss parallels that can be drawn from the cooperation of Maori tribes with the government of New Zealand in the last decade. Finally, I will discuss the unmet needs for the improvement of the indigenous condition, and conclude with an evaluation of the relative progress the Decade has had specifically in the United States, and more generally in the global community. A History of U.