Author Description

This annual publication (published separately in English and Spanish) examines political, legal, social, environmental, and educational issues concerning indigenous peoples around the world during 1997-98. Part I highlights news events and ongoing situations in specific countries in nine world regions. In the Arctic and North America, these include a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that "Indian Country" does not exist in Alaska; funding cuts for education, health, and social services in the Northwest Territories; planning for the creation of the new Canadian territory of Nunavut; a Canadian Supreme Court decision affirming aboriginal land rights in the absence of treaties; threats by developers, mining, and drilling to Indian sacred sites and lands used for subsistence activities; cultural and environmental education for Western Shoshone youth; and the Leonard Peltier case. Other sections cover Mexico and Central America, South America, the Pacific and Australia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa. Indigenous issues in these regions include violations of human rights, proposed reforms to education and language policy, environmental threats and indigenous opposition, legal and political reforms, intellectual property rights, land rights, preservation of traditional knowledge, a historical report on Australian Aboriginal children removed from their families, indigenous self-determination, and global indigenous networking and cooperation. Part II examines indigenous women's issues covered by the First African Indigenous Women's Conference, the Second Asian Indigenous Women's Conference, the Conference of Indian Tribal/Indigenous Women, and the Pacific Families' Network. Part III describes international work on behalf of indigenous rights and includes three articles: "UN Declaration Enters Third Year at the UN Commission on Human Rights" (Andrew Gray, Jens Dahl); "The 54th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights" (Jens Dahl, Lola Garcia-Alix); and "Towards