Monday, October 7, 2013

UN Special Rapporteur Aims to Give Power to the People

But only to certain people:
The United Nations' advocate for the world's Aboriginal Peoples says he is keen to provide the UN-wary Conservative government with "constructive" advice on oilsands pipelines, land claims, poverty and other touchy issues when he finally makes his first visit to Canada this week. 
James Anaya has mostly been met with hostility from the federal government since
2011, when his criticism of Third World-level housing conditions at the remote Ontario community of Attawapiskat prompted a government official to accuse him of engaging in a "publicity stunt." 
And it has taken well over a year since his early-2012 request to visit Canada before Ottawa finally agreed to invite him. 
But the internationally recognized expert on aboriginal rights said he expects "fruitful" discussions, and will offer advice on the need to properly consult first nations before proceeding with mines, pipelines and other projects. "My approach will be to provide preliminary observations that will be constructive, as well as to give voice to the concerns I will have heard," Anaya told the Vancouver Sun. 
And part of his message is that the UN's 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that first nations should consent to resource projects on their land, does not mean they should have a veto. 
Instead, he said governments and industry leaders who want to meet the test of international indigenous law must focus on ensuring projects don't interfere with the human, cultural, spiritual and economic rights of Aboriginal Peoples. 
"It really has to shift to a rights-based approach rather than over who has the last say, who has a veto power," he said...
I could be wrong, but it sounds an awful lot like one of those UN supranational power redistribution schemes to me--the kind that divests power from you and me and assigns it to certain designated "victim" groups. In which case, let's invite this rapporteuring buttinsky to kindly hit the road, pronto Tonto.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Just Iran and the rest of the Anti Israel group getting back at Canada for siding with the 'Juice'.

Unknown said...

Unrelated:

Halloween Haram for Islam - Port Colborne school forbids costumes on Halloween.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/10/04/port-colborne-school-forbids-costumes-on-halloween

scaramouche said...

I suppose Osama bin Laden costumes would therefore be out of the question?

Unknown said...

Yes........ no Osama Bin laden or Obama Hussein suits. :)