Publish Date: 22 February 2017 - 14:01

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (MNA) – Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, will start today a ten-day visit to the United States to assess the situation of indigenous people.

In a press release, Tauli-Corpuz, from Philippines, said she has a particular interest in assessing the impact of energy projects in the indigenous communities.
She said that prospecting companies will be assessed, as well as their advances and challenges, while making suggestions to the new management of the country seeking to improve the rights of indigenous people.
Some days ago, Tauli-Corpuz told the Prensa Latina news agency that her visit would include the polemic construction of a pipeline that would cross the indigenous territory in North Dakota.
US President Donald Trump decided to give permission to the project, which was banned by his predecessor Barack Obama, in the middle of the protests staged by the Sioux tribe Standing Rock that denounces the damages that would be caused by the pipeline to their water sources and sacred sites.
During her tour across the United States, Tauli-Corpuz will visit Washington DC, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and North Dakota.

PL/MNA