The Right to Live as Distinct Peoples

Adapted from The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples have the collective right
To live as distinct peoples
And shall not be subjected to
Any act of genocide
Or other act of violence,
Including the forcible
Removal their children.

Indigenous peoples have the right
Not to be subjected to forced assimilation
Or the destruction of their culture.

States shall prevent
Any action that has the aim or effect
Of depriving them of their integrity
As distinct peoples,
Or of their cultural values
Or ethnic identities;
Or dispossessing them
Of their lands, territories, or resources;
Or any form of forced population transfer;
Or any form of forced assimilation or integration;
Or any form of propaganda
Designed to promote or incite
Racial or ethnic discrimination
Directed against them.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Audio and Video Music: Borderless. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theri4.html. For more poems for Indigenous Peoples Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .