CENSORED NEWS

July 14, 2026

Indigenous at the United Nations Expose A.I. Data Centers and Racially-Biased Misinformation

Indigenous at the United Nations Expose A.I. Data Centers and Racially-Biased Misinformation

Jaimie Williams speaking at the U.N. today on the harm by A.I. data centers.

"I was once convinced artificial intelligence could help my tribe build our language and culture -- but A.I. is not a sustainable solution." -- Jaimie Williams

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 14, 2026

GENEVA -- The mediocre, middle-of-the-road approach to A.I. at the United Nations was countered by testimony today from Indigenous Peoples pointing out that artificial intelligence is not a solution, and is doing great harm to Indigenous with derogatory misinformation and massive data centers that are poisoning the land, water and air.

Jaimie Williams, Miami Nation in Indiana, speaking on behalf of the Society of Native Nations, at the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, responded to the A.I. summary presented this morning.

Williams said the summary does not reflect the true impact of artificial intelligence, particularly in the way the technology is powered.

"AI data centers are rapidly being constructed on the land of Indigenous Peoples without free, prior and informed consent from us."

"My people came out of the water, the St. Joseph River in the southeast of Lake Michigan, along that river there are several data centers," she said, pointing out that Indigenous across Turtle Island share similar stories.

"These sacred waterways and lands are being used for A.I. data centers."

"I was once convinced artificial intelligence could help my tribe build our language and culture, but AI is not a sustainable solution."

"There is currently no available technology available to power A.I. without poisoning the water, drying up the rivers and causing further contamination in the territories of Indigenous Peoples, who are already disproportionately affected."

Williams pointed out that in the United States, the data center industry remains unregulated.

"These are unbelievably massive buildings."

A.I. data centers increase reliance on fossil fuels and pump toxins into the land, water and air 24 hours a day.

"Our Indigenous Peoples are already harassed and unjustly detained by government agencies infiltrating the cities."

Williams recommended that the Expert Mechanism report on the true impact of the data centers that power AI and the direct impact on Indigenous Peoples' land, water and ways of being.

The President of Mong Heritage testifies today the U.N. on the harm caused by A.I.

A.I. Causes Great Harm for Mong Indigenous People

Artificial Intelligence search engines are causing great harm to the Mong People who are misclassified and defined with derogatory words in search engines.

Speaking for the first time at the United Nations, the president of Mong Heritage, said his people, the Mong Indigenous People, are an ancient people with deep historical roots from northern and eastern Asia who are now scattered around the world. They possess their own unique history, language and culture -- and yet they are misclassified as being other racial groups.

On the web, the Mong Indigenous are either not found, or are being classified as being Mongolians.

A.I. and search engines misrepresent Mong Indigenous as a subgroup and define the Mong name with derogatory meanings.

"This misrepresentation has caused lasting harm, discrimination, exclusion, and dehumanization."

He points out that A.I. systems are trained on existing information that often contains biased misinformation.

Stressing the need to safeguard the language, history, identity and cultural heritage of the Mong Indigenous People, he asked that there be official recognition in the Expert Mechanism's report, and corrective measures taken to prevent the harm being caused by A.I.

'A.I. the New Colonizer'

During the session, Valmaine Toki, Moari and newly-elected chair of the Expert Mechanism, said A.I. is seen as the "new colonizer."

Vassili Nemechkin, professor at Mordova State University, said Russia is working with the company Yandex to preserve and teach Indigenous languages.

In Russia, one strategy is to label all audio-visual by A.I. in order to prevent manipulation, he said, pointing out that Yandex has 21 Indigenous languages in Russia.

"Smart Chum" is being used by reindeer herders in the Arctic. There are now translations of videos providing translations of 15 Indigenous languages, Nemechkin said, adding that Russia has made revitalizing Indigenous languages a priority.

Meanwhile, profits are soaring for the Russian-owned Yandex, which provides Russia's leading search engine and collaborates with Russia on the creation of software.

Noelani Arista, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) and professor at McGill University in Montreal, said for most Indigenous, knowledge is not property. Arista said there are few Indigenous speakers of the language who are actually involved in overseeing the production of A.I. language revitalization, in order to ensure its integrity. Far too often, computer scientists and linguists produce A.I. unaware of Indigenous protocols. She points out that in Canada and the U.S. there are no standards to ensure data sovereignty. At McGill University, Dr. Noelani Arista serves as the Director of the Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges.

This testimony came after the U.N. Expert Mechanism began with a summary which stated that A.I. is beneficial in revitalizing Indigenous languages and culture.

The Theft of Copyrighted Words, Photos and Songs

The Expert Mechanism's summary failed to point out that A.I. companies are stealing copyrighted data for A.I., as revealed in the massive lawsuits now challenging the theft of copyrighted books, music and news articles.

The theft of Indigenous words, medicine, and knowledge is already underway -- without free, prior and informed consent, by these corporate, profit-making companies.

Further, Meta has been data-scraping public posts on Facebook and Instagram since 2007 for A.I. -- and most users were unaware of this. Now, Twitter/X uses posts there for its A.I. search engine.

Joseph White Eyes, Cheyenne River Lakota, spoke on the harm of data collection and A.I., artificial intelligence at Bear Butte in South Dakota, during World Peace and Prayer Day.

"The moment we engage with them, the information no longer belongs to us," White Eyes says and described the danger of searches on A.I. search engines and chat boxes.

Today's panel discussion on A.I. is during the second day of the week-long session of the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva.

The U.N. Expert Mechanism opened the panel presentation:

"While AI presents opportunities to support Indigenous language revitalization, the preservation of oral histories and cultural practices, and broader knowledge preservation for future generations, it also poses significant risks."

"These include the extraction and use of Indigenous data without consent, algorithmic bias, and the reproduction of harmful stereotypes, the exclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives, and the use of AI-enabled surveillance, profiling and law-enforcement practices that may disproportionately affect Indigenous Peoples, which, if left unaddressed, may result in serious and potentially irreversible harm to Indigenous Peoples."

"These challenges reinforce the importance of anchoring AI-related initiatives in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly with regard to the rights to participate in decision-making and to free, prior and informed consent."

"In this regard, Indigenous Peoples should be able to participate meaningfully in the development, implementation and governance of artificial intelligence affecting them, in order to avoid the perpetuation of harm and realize the positive potential of such technologies."

Continue reading document:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/sessions/2026/19th-session-expert-mechanism-rights-indigenous-peoples

More:

Society of Native Nations https://www.societyofnativenations.org/mission

Mong Heritage http://www.mongheritage.org/index.html

July 13, 2026

U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Begins in Geneva

U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Begins in Geneva

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 13, 2026

Christine Diindiisi McCleave, PhD, Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe, said commercial industries are using Indigenous medicines for profit, and the psychedelic movement is making money from Indigenous medicines. Traditional medicine is increasingly targeted by rapidly expanding psychedelic industries. While others profit, Indigenous struggle to maintain their culture. She said extracting Indigenous resources and knowledge is a contemporary form of colonization for global markets. Dr. McCleave represents the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund.

"Around the world, Indigenous medicines and knowledge systems are being commercialized without our free, prior, and informed consent. Others profit from our medicines and our ceremonies while Indigenous communities struggle to maintain our cultural survival and economic self-determination," Dr. McCleave said.

"At the same time, psychedelic churches and new religious movements invoke religious freedom protections to gain access to indigenous medicines, ceremonies, and sacred knowledge without acknowledging the ethnocide, forced assimilation, cultural prohibition, and religious conversion that was inflicted upon indigenous peoples globally through colonization."

"My doctoral research shows that the psychedelic movement is in fact ongoing colonization inflicting harm upon Indigenous peoples and extracting our Indigenous resources and knowledge. In this perpetuation of colonization, Indigenous peoples bear the costs of resource depletion, cultural appropriation, and ecological harm while others accumulate wealth and influence."

"This is an ongoing conflict situation for Indigenous peoples, a contemporary form of colonial extraction in which Indigenous medicine medicines, knowledge, and spiritual traditions are transformed into commercial, religious, and pharmaceutical products for global markets."

ECUADOR -- An Indigenous representative from Ecuador described how Ecuadorian security forces fired projectiles and tear gas at Indigenous on strike in September and October, killing four people, injuring 880 people, and imprisoning 225 people. Indigenous in Ecuador asked the U.N. to help ensure the constitutional rights of those who work in agriculture, and help ensure their protection from harassment and prosecution by the government.

"The communities of the Quechua received as a state response criminalization, criminalized as terrorists, and persecution," he testified. "We also suffered a systemic pattern of institutional abuse through the imposition of continuous states of emergency, arbitrary detention, and the political repression— 225 political detainees."

"What happened in Ecuador wasn't a response to public order, but a systematic response against indigenous peoples who've protected their fundamental rights."

Bears Ears National Monument. Photo by Tim Peterson

President Trump Slashes Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments for a Second Time

The move also defies Intertribal collaborative management at Bears Ears and an Intertribal shared stewardship framework at Grand Staircase-Escalante

For Diné people, this land shapes our way of life. In Diné communities from Navajo Mountain to Aneth, families continue sacred traditions of prayer, harvest medicine gathering, and ceremony. Bears Ears (Shash Jaa’) holds our ancestors’ footsteps and our children’s future. This decision dishonors generations of care and weakens the unity we’ve built to safeguard Bears Ears for everyone.” --Davina Smith–Idjesa, Dine'

Press statement, Censored News, July 13, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, President Trump attempted to virtually eliminate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, cutting their boundaries by, combined, almost three million acres. This is a major escalation of unlawful actions taken in his first administration in 2017, when he attempted to cut boundaries for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 87% and 45%, respectively. Protections for both monuments were restored by President Biden in 2021.

Grand Staircase photo by Tim Peterson

Inter-Tribal Coalition Members Condemn Reduction of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

“Today’s action threatens to destroy precious cultural places that are part of our histories and identities as Native peoples,” said Georgie Pongyesva, Hopi.

By Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition

Censored News, July 13, 2026

ESCALANTE, Utah — Members of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition strongly condemn the Trump administration’s actions to virtually eliminate Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and call for the defense and protection of their ancestral lands. In an event at the White House today, the president issued orders cutting the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by almost three million acres combined.

“Our Tribes were not informed of or asked about this decision, and that’s unacceptable. The federal government must honor its Trust and Treaty obligations to our Tribes — it is not optional,” said Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition Coordinator Autumn Gillard, Southern Paiute.