TITLE: Securing and Protecting the International Legal and Political Status of Alaska Natives
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, the indigenous Peoples of Alaska are recognized as subjects of international law with an international legal and political status that has never been ceded or relinquished; and
WHEREAS, the United States of America placed Alaska on the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories under United Nations General Assembly resolution *66 (I) in 1946 and misled the General Assembly of the United Nations with false and misleading reports and information that allowed for the United States military and the American citizens to vote in a referendum in violation of United Nations decolonization procedures resulting in General Assembly resolution 1469 (XIV) of 12 December 1959; and
WHEREAS, the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska and their free political institutions are the proper agents and authorities to promote the international legal and political status of Alaska; and
WHEREAS, the United States of American and the United Nations member states violated the United Nations Charter and international law by allowing the Territory of Alaska to be taken out of the de-colonization process while many of our peoples were preliterate; and
WHEREAS, the United States of America created a substandard educational system without a law school, making it extremely difficult to vigorously protest our illegal annexation; and
WHEREAS, no medical schools exists in Alaska, compromising the mental and physical health of Alaska’s Indigenous Nations; and
WHEREAS, the United States of America has failed to protect Alaska’s Indigenous women against the highest sexual assault and domestic violence rates within its current borders or to provide police protection.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NCAI does hereby support securing and protecting Alaska Native international legal and political status against any possible cession or reduction by United States of America or any other party or entity addressing the violations of the international legal and political obligations of the United States of America, the United Nations and its member states; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI does hereby adamantly and strenuously rejects United Nations General Assembly resolution 1469 (XIV) of the 12 of December 1959 to deny the international legal and political status of the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2013 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Cox Business Center from October 13 - 18, 2013 in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a quorum present.
President
ATTEST:
Recording Secretary