The international community marked the fourth anniversary of the
adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples earlier this fall on September 13; however in
the United States, the one-year anniversary of U.S. recognition
of the landmark human rights instrument occurred in mid-
December. At last winter’s second annual White House Tribal
Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior,
President Obama announced the U.S. would “lend its support” to
the Declaration and recognize its baseline standards for human
rights for Indigenous Peoples at home and abroad, stating
further , “The aspirations it affirms—including the respect for
the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples—are one we
must always seek to fulfill.” One critical issue addressed by
the Declaration is language rights: Indigenous Peoples must have
the ability to communicate publicly without fear of prejudice,
to establish and control educational systems in tribal
languages, and to pass on to future gene