[comments-gtlds] Position Paper E

["Preston D. Hardison" <prestonh@home.com>]

The Indigenous Biodiversity Information Network (IBIN) is a coalition 
of indigenous representatives working on indigenous informatics and 
communications issues under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

IBIN supports Position Paper E to establish an indigenous domain within 
the ICANN hierarchy. Indigenous peoples have a distinct and evolving 
status in international law as embodied in United Nations declarations 
and Conventions, such as the United Nations Draft Declaration on the 
Rights of Indigenous Peoples and International Labor Organization 
Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries 
(ILO 169). This special status is reinforced by such conventions as the 
Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by over 172 nations, and the
Convention to Combat Desertification, which create special obligations 
on the part of States towards indigenous peoples. 

This international standing is reinforced by an increasing number of 
national constitutional, statutory and case laws. A number of States 
have signed treaties with indigenous nations, establishing the principle 
of native sovereignty. A large number without formal treaties have recently 
passed or are currently considering constitutional provisions or legislation
recognizing the existence of the category of "indigenous," and special 
indigenous rights that supplement more general human rights provisions. 

As such, the request to include an "indigenous" classification in the 
international domain names system is not merely a case of special interest 
lobbying, but a request to put into practice obligations in national and 
international law.

Preston Hardison
Technical Support
Indigenous Biodiversity Information Network

http://www.ibin.org/