The Obama Administration is weighing whether to sign off on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which could pose a problem to anyone who's purchased property in the United States in the past several centuries.

U.N. Treaty to Give American Land Back to Indians

by Valerie Richardson

05/04/2010

The declaration was overwhelmingly adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 largely by rich, European countries whose indigenous peoples triumphed over the Romans and by poor, non-European countries whose indigenous populations either never were, have long since vanished or are now relatively small and powerless.

For a wealthy country like the United States with large numbers of politically connected Indian tribes, formal adhesion to the declaration might be just a little more consequential.

The declaration starts off by affirming the rights of indigenous peoples on a number of worthy fronts, such as self-determination, freedom, peace, human rights and native languages. But then there's Article 26, which states that, "Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired."

You don't have to be Christopher Columbus to see how this might raise a few red flags. About 500 years ago -- circa 1491 -- the United States was wholly occupied by indigenous peoples, also known as American Indians. If they now have a legal claim to the lands they have "traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired," this could place a significant wrinkle in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's redevelopment plans for Lower Manhattan.

U.S. adhesion to the Declaration should be uplifting for the fees of international “public interestâ€