HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	150
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

URGING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO ADOPT THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.

     WHEREAS, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration) is a non-binding text that sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other rights; and

     WHEREAS, on September 13, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration with 11 members abstaining and four members voting no; and

     WHEREAS, the United States was among those four members voting against the Declaration; and

     WHEREAS, the 2005 Legislature recognized the significance of indigenous peoples' rights by passing House Concurrent Resolution 195, H.D. 1, adopting the Declaration; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature acknowledges the continued need to preserve and maintain the Hawaiian culture, to protect and promote the human rights of the kanaka maoli, the indigenous people of Hawaii, and to support the efforts of the kanaka maoli to pursue environmentally sustainable economic, social, and educational activities to ensure the survival of their culture; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the President of the United States and the United States Congress is urged to adopt the Declaration; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples