At the end of April, the summit of the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was held in New York, with more tribal leaders attending than ever before. Native American leaders called on the federal government to give tribal nations more say in what happens to their land.

WBUR interviewed Kristen Carpenter, director of the American Indian Law Program at the University of Colorado Boulder and PI on a Luce-funded project at the Native American Rights Fund to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Carpenter discusses the disconnect between the rights afforded by the international community to Indigenous peoples and those recognized by the U.S. government, specifically the level of consent required to move forward with projects that adversely affect Indigenous lands. 

The Native American Rights Fund is currently working to pressure the U.S. government into putting the articles outlined in UNDRIP into practice across a number of spheres including development, child welfare, and religious freedom.

Listen to the Interview