STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1116

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 83

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 83 entitled:

 

"SENATE 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,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to urge the President of the United States and the United States Congress to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration).

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this resolution from the State Representative of the Fourth House District.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     The 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.  On September 13, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration with eleven members abstaining and four members voting no.  The United States was among those four members voting against the Declaration.

 

The 2005 Legislature recognized the significance of indigenous peoples' rights by passing House Concurrent Resolution No. 195, H.D. 1, entitled "Adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."  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. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 83 and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair