I have been asked by readers to mention what the Ambassadors and/or representatives of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA) are doing on the global stage.
I have written about our ambassadors in Africa, India and in other countries over the past three years.
I cannot write updates unless the Ambassadors/representatives send in reports on what can be shared publicly.
However, every now and then, a report does make its way to my email, and I can then provide an update on their participation in a conference or event.
Attached is the report by FANA’s Ambassador to Mexico, Central and South America, and Cultural Attaché for International Outreach, Mr. Guadalupe Casas Acosta Mazatzin DHC, on his attendance at the 19th session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, my article is meant as a brief summary of his presentation that was delivered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Throughout the report, he calls attention to the need to protect indigenous rights, indigenous cultural heritage, and the spiritual legacies of their ancestors.
Ambassador Mazatzin leads the reader through the meeting’s purpose by highlighting the rights of indigenous peoples, justice, and cultural preservation within the United Nations’ guidelines.
Throughout the report, he stresses the continuing issues that affect the Indigenous tribes and nations, especially those living in the United States, as well as repatriation and participation.
I quote from his presentation where he addressed the deportation of indigenous people who had migrated to the U. S. border since Trump became President for a second time: “…When Indigenous persons are detained, families separated, children displaced and communities placed in fear, the issue becomes one of fundamental human rights and the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This concern had already been raised during my participation in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII25) in New York. In Geneva, I sought to move the matter further by encouraging EMRIP to consider the situation within its own mandate, including the possibility of Country Engagement with the United States…”
He continues in his presentation: “…Children must never become collateral victims of immigration policy. Their citizenship, family relationships, physical security, cultural identity and best interests must be protected.
Governments must also provide meaningful transparency concerning deaths, injuries, hospitalizations, detention conditions and the treatment of persons—including Indigenous persons—affected by enforcement operations.
Due process, humane treatment, judicial guarantees, family unity, professional conduct by enforcement authorities and the rule of law are not optional considerations. They are fundamental protections. The connection with the central study of EMRIP 19 is therefore important.
Conflict affecting Indigenous Peoples does not exist only on conventional battlefields. It can also manifest through forced displacement, institutional violence, dispossession, family separation, and governmental policies that undermine the security, dignity, and continuity of Peoples…”
He spoke about the contributions of Indigenous populations to science, medicine, astronomy, and environmental relationships.
He emphasized the importance of UNDRIP articles 5 and 18, as they address the recognition of indigenous institutions and the people’s decision-making rights through their appointed representatives.
Because he is a member of the Sand Hill and an Ambassador representing FANA, he spoke about the necessity of re-establishing the communication and interrelationships that existed prior to the European dominance of the world.
One important point he mentioned was his ongoing efforts to recover sacred artifacts stolen by the Europeans, especially the Sacred Amoxtli (the Codex Borgia). I quote: “…Another central purpose of my participation in Geneva was continuing our international initiative for the Rescue and Return of the Sacred, particularly our effort concerning the Sacred Amoxtli commonly known as the Codex Borgia, presently held in the Vatican Apostolic Library, to begin with…”
He described the Amoxtli as a living language that communicated knowledge through images, ceremonial sequences, and numbers.
I am going to say that, rather than summarizing each page, here are some of the key points in his report:
He recommended that it is important to take well-thought-out actions to implement declarations. Too often, U. N. declarations lack definitive actions.
Ambassador Mazatzin believes that sacred patrimony and Indigenous participation are vital components for environmental sustainability, justice, and healing. That the quest for repatriation should promote dialogue, decolonization, and reconciliation rather than confrontation.
He emphasizes that, to protect Indigenous Peoples, one must safeguard their culture, knowledge, and land through distinct actions that foster justice, healing, and the continuity of their existence.
Below is the Ambassador’s report.
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August 14, 2026, Day 13 Condor – Kozkakuautli
REPORT OF MY PARTICIPATION IN THE 19TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS EXPERT MECHANISM ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Geneva, Switzerland — 13–17 July 2026
My participation in the 19th Session of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) in Geneva, Switzerland, represented my third participation before this important United Nations mechanism and another significant step in our continuing international work for the protection of Indigenous Peoples, our children and families, our identity, our ancestral knowledge and our Sacred patrimony.
I was designated representing the SandHill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians and the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA).
Although I addressed several distinct matters during the week, they were connected by one fundamental principle:
The rights of Indigenous Peoples cannot be separated from the protection of our children, families, ancestral territories, identity, knowledge systems and the Sacred inheritance entrusted to us by our ancestors.
THE ROLE OF EMRIP AND THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE 19TH SESSION
The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the United Nations Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and assists Member States in achieving the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
An important focus of the 19th Session was EMRIP’s study concerning the rights of Indigenous Peoples in conflict and post-conflict situations.
In opening the session, the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, H.E. Ambassador Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, welcomed the work of the Expert Mechanism and emphasized the continuing importance of implementing the UN Declaration.
Of relevance to our own work was the recognition that implementation requires more than declarations of support. It requires concrete measures to address injustices, combat prejudice and eliminate all forms of violence against Indigenous Peoples.
This year’s study was especially important because conflict affecting Indigenous Peoples cannot be understood only in terms of conventional warfare.
Indigenous Peoples continue to experience the consequences of historical and contemporary dispossession, forced displacement, discrimination, family separation, denial of self-determination and different forms of institutional and physical violence.
This provided an important international framework for one of the principal situations that I came to Geneva to address: the ongoing situation affecting Indigenous Peoples, families and children in the United States.
THE ONGOING SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES
One of my principal interventions concerned the increasingly serious consequences of mass detention and deportation policies in the United States and their impact upon Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral presence on this continent predates the international borders that now divide our Peoples.
This cannot be viewed simply as an immigration question.
When Indigenous persons are detained, families separated, children displaced and communities placed in fear, the issue becomes one of fundamental human rights and the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This concern had already been raised during my participation at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, UNPFII25. In Geneva, I sought to move the matter further by encouraging EMRIP to consider the situation within its own mandate, including the possibility of Country Engagement with the United States.
I called attention to the need for an immediate moratorium on mass detention and deportation actions while adequate safeguards, transparency and accountability are addressed.
I also called for appropriate United Nations examination of the consequences of these policies, particularly upon Indigenous Peoples and children.
Children must never become collateral victims of immigration policy. Their citizenship, family relationships, physical security, cultural identity and best interests must be protected.
Governments must also provide meaningful transparency concerning deaths, injuries, hospitalizations, detention conditions and the treatment of persons—including Indigenous persons—affected by enforcement operations.
Due process, humane treatment, judicial guarantees, family unity, professional conduct by enforcement authorities and the rule of law are not optional considerations. They are fundamental protections. The connection with the central study of EMRIP 19 is therefore important.
Conflict affecting Indigenous Peoples does not exist only on conventional battlefields. It can also manifest through forced displacement, institutional violence, dispossession, family separation and governmental policies that undermine the security, dignity and continuity of Peoples.
Implementing UNDRIP therefore requires concrete measures to address injustices, combat prejudice and eliminate all forms of violence—including the contemporary situations that Indigenous Peoples continue to confront today.
INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION MUST PRODUCE PRACTICAL RESULTS
Another important dimension of my participation concerned the meaning of Indigenous participation itself.
Articles 5 and 18 of UNDRIP recognize the importance of Indigenous institutions and the right of Indigenous Peoples to participate in decision-making through representatives chosen according to their own procedures. Participation, however, must become more than presence inside an international conference room. It must produce results.
Drawing upon practical experiences from Indigenous communities in the Americas, I emphasized that international recognition must ultimately translate into tangible improvements for communities: resources, institutional cooperation, protection of rights and the ability of Indigenous authorities themselves to participate meaningfully in decisions concerning their Peoples.
The international system must increasingly move beyond asking: “Were Indigenous Peoples represented?” and begin asking: “Did their participation influence the decision, policy or action affecting their Peoples?”
Meaningful participation requires resources, institutional cooperation, equitable representation among Indigenous regions and recognition of Indigenous Peoples themselves as decision-makers—not merely observers of decisions made about them.
THE RESCUE AND RETURN OF THE SACRED
Another central purpose of my participation in Geneva was continuing our international initiative for the Rescue and Return of the Sacred, particularly our effort concerning the Sacred Amoxtli commonly known as the Codex Borgia, presently held in the Vatican Apostolic Library, to begin with.
During the 19th Session, I had the important opportunity to meet personally with the newly elected Chair of EMRIP, Valmaine Toki, as well as with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume.
These personal meetings provided an important opportunity to present and discuss briefly our continuing international work for the Rescue and Return of the Sacred and to explain why the repatriation of Indigenous ancestral knowledge and Sacred patrimony must increasingly become part of the international discussion concerning implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
I emphasized that our initiative is not simply a campaign for the return of an archaeological object or historical manuscript. The Sacred Amoxtli is living Indigenous intellectual, cultural and spiritual patrimony.
It contains and communicates ancestral knowledge concerning time, astronomy, ceremony, agriculture, medicine, philosophy, community responsibility and the relationship between humanity, Mother Earth and the cosmos.
For this reason, the question of the Sacred Amoxtli is directly connected with the rights recognized in UNDRIP Articles 11, 12 and 31, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to maintain, protect and develop their cultural traditions, ceremonial objects, manifestations of their cultures and traditional knowledge.
I further explained that our approach remains one of dialogue, responsibility and reconciliation rather than confrontation.
We seek recognition of Sacred Amoxtli as Indigenous patrimony; in this case, meaningful dialogue among Indigenous representatives, Mexico, the Holy See and appropriate international institutions; opportunities for Indigenous observation, study and ceremonial access; and ultimately serious consideration of the conditions through which Sacred patrimony removed from Indigenous Peoples can return to the Peoples and lands from which it originated.
These conversations in Geneva represented another important step in bringing the Rescue and Return of the Sacred directly into dialogue with those entrusted within the United Nations system with advancing the rights recognized in UNDRIP. They reinforced an important principle underlying our work:
Repatriation is not simply the return of an object. It is the restoration of a relationship between a People, their ancestors, their knowledge and their responsibility to future generations.
AMOXTLI AS LIVING AND SPIRITUAL LANGUAGES
During the discussion concerning the future work of the Expert Mechanism, I also advanced an important concept that I believe deserves further development within the United Nations system:
Ancient Indigenous Amoxtli should be recognized not merely as historical manuscripts or artifacts, but as living intellectual and spiritual languages.
Their images, numbers, calendrical relationships, colors, spatial arrangements and ceremonial sequences communicate knowledge through sophisticated systems that cannot adequately be understood through Western definitions of alphabetic writing alone.
Protecting these Amoxtli therefore means protecting Indigenous languages, knowledge systems, cultural memory and the right of Indigenous Peoples to interpret their own ancestral inheritance.
This concept can have important implications for the future implementation of UNDRIP and for international discussions concerning traditional knowledge, cultural heritage, repatriation and the responsibilities of museums, libraries, governments and religious institutions possessing Indigenous patrimony.
FROM PROTECTION AND RECOGNITION TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION
Perhaps the most important conclusion that I carried from Geneva is that these apparently separate issues are interconnected.
The Indigenous child separated from family and community, the Indigenous person displaced from ancestral territory, and the Sacred Amoxtli separated from the People whose knowledge it carries all confront us with the same fundamental question:
What happens when Indigenous Peoples are separated from that which gives continuity to their identity? Our work therefore connects protection, identity, participation, repatriation and reconciliation.
The 19th Session of EMRIP reinforced an important principle: implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires more than recognition. It requires concrete action.
The Return of the Sacred should not be understood as an act against museums, libraries, governments or churches. Properly approached, it can become an opportunity for dialogue, decolonization, healing and reconciliation. Likewise, protecting Indigenous children and families is not merely an immigration question. It is part of protecting the continuity of Peoples.
After my third participation before the Expert Mechanism, I believe that our responsibility now is increasingly to help move the international discussion: Our children must inherit more than declarations.
They must inherit their families, their identity, their languages, their ancestral knowledge, their Sacred patrimony and the possibility of living with dignity as Indigenous Peoples.
The Rescue and Return of the Sacred is also the return of responsibility. And perhaps this was the greater message that we carried to Geneva:
Protecting our Peoples and returning what is Sacred to them are not separate struggles. They are part of the same movement toward justice, dignity, healing, reconciliation and the continuity of Indigenous Peoples for future generations.
The Rescue and Return of the Sacred therefore also carries an environmental responsibility. When ancestral knowledge is separated from its Peoples, humanity may also be separated from knowledge that is increasingly necessary for confronting the challenges of our time.
Amid the climate crisis, we should not only ask what new knowledge humanity must discover, but also what ancient knowledge we have forgotten—and what knowledge is still waiting to return home.
Ambassador Mr. Guadalupe Casas Acosta, Doctor Honoris Causa
UN High Commissioner for Human Right Volker TurkUN High Commissioner for Human Rights
MAmbassador Mazatzin
AmbassAmbassador at Airport
Ambassador with other attendeesAmbassador with other attendees
Ambassador on right with attendeesAmbassador on right with other attendees
Ambassador with Friend at EventAmbassador with a Friend at event
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Albert K Barume UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesAlbert K Barume UN S[ecial Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Ambassador with another attendeeAmbassador with another attendee