The Right to Maintain Their Culture

 A poem for Indigenous People’s Day, adapted from Articles 11 – 12.1 of The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, about the right of indigenous peoples to maintain their culture:

 

THE RIGHT TO MAINTAIN THEIR CULTURE

 

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

 

Indigenous peoples have the right

To practice and revitalize

Their cultural traditions and cultures.

This includes the right

To maintain, protect, and develop

The past, present, and future manifestations

Of their cultures, such as

Archaeological and historical sites,

Artefacts, designs, ceremonies,

Technologies, and visual and performing

Arts and literature.

 

States shall provide redress

With respect to cultural, intellectual,

Religious, and spiritual property

Taken without their free, prior,

And informed consent,

Or in violation of their laws,

Traditions, or customs.

 

Indigenous peoples have the right

To practice, develop, and teach

Their spiritual and religious traditions;

The right to maintain, protect

And have access in privacy

To their religious and cultural sites;

The right to the use and control

Of their ceremonial objects;

And the right to the repatriation

Of their human remains.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theri5.html. For more poems for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

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 .