DR. KRISHNA BHATTACHAN (www.nefin.org.np) Professor of Sociology in Tribhuwan University in Nepal is a leader of indigenous people's movement and coordinator of the "Indigenous Peoples' Mega Front.

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) an umbrella organization of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples’ Organization in Nepal has called a national political conference starting July 3 in the capital, Kathmandu. The conference is likely to decide upon a separate political party representing 38 percent populated indigenous nationalities of Nepal. The conference ended on July 6th with resolutions passed by what has now been estimated 51 to 70 percent of the population of Nepal is "indigenous". The conference is to forge common view on federalism and devise a new strategy to guarantee indigenous peoples’ rights in the new political scenario, following the three-day conference. According to the source, the conference will decide whether to form a new separate political party representing of whole indigenous peoples of the country or alter the NEFIN itself as a new political party of the indigenous peoples that will participate in the forthcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) election called by the government after the demise of the past CA on May 28.

JANENE YAZZIE-COLLYMORE Dine/ Navajo: An independent scholar and CEO of Sixth World Consultants. Janene has also helped found a non-profit Indigenous Think Tank, Tecumseh Institute, in New York City. She is currently working with Owe Aku International Justice Project. Media has published false reports that the Hopi Tribe passed the Little Colorado River settlement, which is aimed at giving Hopi and Navajo water to non-Indians in Arizona, along with the coal fired power plant, Navajo Generating Station, one of the dirtiest in the US, and Peabody Coal. The bill, devised by Arizona Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain and non-Indian attorneys, would require Hopi and Navajo to give up their aboriginal water rights. The water rights theft scheme is aided by paid armchair journalists and online aggregators who do not check the facts of what they are posting. Senate Bill 2109 favors non-Indian parties including owners of the Navajo Generating Station and the Peabody Coal Company; requires waiver of Hopi aboriginal and federal reserved water rights to the Little Colorado River; and waives any future claims for damages done to the Navajo Aquifer and sacred springs by Peabody Coal Company and owners of the Navajo Generating Station.” (from Censored News) Janene said, "there are definitely strong arm tactics being used by our Water Rights Lawyer Stanley Pollack and our Executive administration (President Ben Shelly and all his political appointees). Our Council Delegates are listening to our people and share our dislike for the bill and settlement but they are being manipulated and coerced in private meetings with our President who is threatening to withhold support for community projects and to use past indictment charges (from the previous administration scandal of which he was also a part and plead guilty) in order to sway them to vote against their communities. They have spent approximately $500,000 in Navajo Nation and federal funds to promote this bill (hiring lobbyist, pr firms, full page color ads in all reservation and border town newspapers run repeatedly, two hour radio station forums daily, and paying tribal employees travel and overtime to promote this SB 2109. Please google Navajo-Hopi Water Rights.

KENT LEBSOCK Director -Owe Aku International Justice Project - www.oweakuinternational.org The Black Hlls Sioux Nation Treaty Council headed by Chief Olver Red Cloud offer a Resolution of the BHSNTC in the second week of July 2012 with supporting member reservations of Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Fort Peck, Lower Brule, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Santee and Yankton.The BHSNTC will present the idea of inherent sovereignty from time immemorial operates to proect the treat, land and territorial rights of the Lakota People of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties with the U.S., treaties which were ratified and confirmed by the U.S. government and the Lakota Oyate. As part of the resolution to be presented "In making this decision we affirm at the World Conference [on Indigenous Peoples 2014] must be consistent with the standards established by the United Nations for acknowledging and respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples of the world, and being no less than the standards established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. After exhausing all domestic legal remedies, they now offer a solution through the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council's Resolution.

Listen on Radio Kingston