The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, NAGPRA, and Higher Education

Forum Summary

In this forum, Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) will begin with the proposition that the United States has entered a new era in its relationship with its Native peoples—the Human Rights Era. The 2007 landmark United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was a watershed event, and now an Indigenous social-justice law-reform movement is working to fulfil its vision. Employing the human-rights lens of modern international law, Echo-Hawk will review UNDRIP, argue the need for implementing its ideas in domestic law and policy, and explain how it should inform the UC system’s compliance with the repatriation provisions of the Native American Graves Protection Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. Finally, he will address the role of California universities in the full realization of the Human Rights Era for Indigenous peoples.

Forum Theme Artwork: Lyn Risling (Hupa, Karuk, Yurok), Ifheektavaan (Truth Bearer)