Global warming vs. indigenous rights

Human rights body reconsiders Inuit climate change petitionIn a surprising about-face, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has decided it will hold a hearing to determine whether climate change is a human rights violation.

The decision comes just two months after the organization rejected a petition filed by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier and 65 other Inuit in 2005.

The petition states the U.S. is violating the human rights of Inuit by refusing to sign any international treaties to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.