Human Rights of Native People of the Americas

WHEREAS, many of the indigenous Native people living in the Americas are held captive by government, social, and economic policies that violate their rights as human beings; and

WHEREAS, these policies deny the worth and God-given right of every human being to live free of injustice, discrimination, and fear; and

WHEREAS, the human rights of Native people of the Americas have been and continue to be grossly violated by various governments that suppress freedom; and

WHEREAS, indigenous Native people of the Western Hemisphere Americas are in countries experiencing civil war, and their lives are continually threatened and endangered; and

WHEREAS, our religious faith calls us to affirm the dignity and worth of every human being and to struggle with our oppressed brothers and sisters for justice; we are called to "proclaim release to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18, RSV),

Therefore, be it resolved, that we petition the 2000 General Conference to direct the General Board of Church and Society to design, coordinate, and facilitate, in consultation with the Native American International Caucus, and all other appropriate United Methodist Native American organizations, a strategy that will bring the power of moral and religious influence of The United Methodist Church and the government of the United States to bear upon the struggles of the oppressed Native people of the Americas.

ADOPTED 2000

See Social Principles, ¶ 164A.

From The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church — 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.