Historic Victory for Tribal People

Indigenous people around the world are celebrating the UN General Assembly's approval of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration was approved by an overwhelming majority vote in New York. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States voted against the Declaration while 143 nations voted in favor.

The Declaration recognizes that governments can no longer treat indigenous tribes as second class citizens, and it gives protection to tribal people so that they will not be thrown off their own lands, like the situation Botswana Bushman Jumanda Gakelebone of the Kalahari tribe has experienced.

--Eric Rice, World News Editor