A mixed record on human rights

The year 2010 was filled with accomplishments and setbacks for Navajo human rights.

Two Navajo men were beaten in Farmington. One had a swastika branded into his arm in April and another was the victim of a beating allegedly because he is Navajo.

While the San Juan County attorney didn't think the circumstances of the branding rose to the level of a hate crime, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roberto Ortega said the incident is the first case in the country to be pursued by the U.S. Justice Department under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Both cases are in still in court.

The setbacks in crime are in contrast to accomplishments in policy.

The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission signed agreements aimed at improving the race record with three New Mexico towns bordering the reservation - Grants, Gallup and Farmington.

The memorandum of agreement, while non-binding, acknowledges the past trauma Navajos have endured at the hands of non-Natives and established procedures to address future racial problems.

On an international level, President Barrack Obama said he supports the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous people. The document was created in 2007 to recognize the right to survival for indigenous people throughout the world. The U.S., then led by President George W. Bush, was one of four countries that opposed the declaration.

Though official ratification of the declaration has yet to take place, Native leaders throughout the U.S hailed the reversal of Bush-era opposition.

NEXT, No. 6: Major water rights pacts signed, funded

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