"I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News.

But, first, we want to turn to a new report that turns an international spotlight on how America's indigenous people live. Native Americans, Hawaiians and Alaskan natives are the subject of a new United Nations Human Rights Commission report that examines, for the first time, the living conditions of native people against the standard set by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That declaration establishes minimum, basic rights for indigenous people globally. The U.S. signed on to this declaration in 2010.

S. James Anaya is the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples. He is an American and a professor of law with a background in tribal law, and he led this inquiry, which just concluded. It is, as we said, the first of its kind to report on the conditions of indigenous people in the U.S.

And Professor S. James Anaya joins us now in our Washington, D.C. studios. Thank you so much for coming in.

S. JAMES ANAYA: Thank you. It's great to be here with you.

MARTIN: I should mention that you are a professor of law in the United States. You're from New Mexico, so you certainly have your own personal experience with these issues. But what motivated this report by the United Nations at this time? Was this the first opportunity after the United States signed onto this universal declaration?

ANAYA: Yeah. That's right. I, in my capacity as special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, have been interested in promoting the application and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on a worldwide basis. And so when the U.S. expressed its support, it was natural for me to say, well, what kind of conversation can we have about what the U.S. is doing, in practical terms, to put to practice the declaration?"

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