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Howard R. Berman Collection


Books & Papers


BermanTo identify books in the Berman Collection, search the University Libraries Online Catalog for "Berman" and filter to Law Library Special Collections.

To identify materials in the Berman Papers see the description below.


Biography

Howard R. Berman, a 1973 graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Law, taught American Indian Law and Human Rights at UB from 1978 to 1982. Professor Berman taught at Harvard Law School from 1983 to 1987 and California Western Law School from 1987 until his death. He maintained a private practice in American Indian law and served as an attorney for the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington D.C. from 1978-81. He was an early leader in the development of law on the rights of indigenous peoples. His interests also included comparative law, international environmental law, international law, international trade and property.

He chaired the Interest Group on Indigenous Rights for the American Society of International Law and served on the Board of Advisors for the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs for the United Nations from 1993 until his death. He worked closely with the traditional Haudenosaunee [Six Nations, Iroquois Confederacy] and was an avid collector of rare books on New York history and Indian affairs, and international law.

Upon his death in June 1997, Professor Berman donated to the Law Library his collection of books and personal papers which focus on Indian Nations within New York State and the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide.


Epilogue:

On September 13, 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Prof. Berman’s life work centered on the creation of this historic document establishing rights under international law for the world’s indigenous peoples.

Prof. Berman attended the initial gathering in 1977 of the Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Peoples: The Americas, The United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. From this conference, a recommendation was sent to the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which in turn recommended to the UN that it form the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. In the 1980's and '90's Prof. Berman participated in the UN Working Group which in 1993 issued a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2000 the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was established by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It was this body that negotiated the final Declaration adopted by the General Assembly.

Prof. Berman served on the Board of Advisors for the IWGIA which remains actively involved in these issues.


The Howard R. Berman Papers

The personal papers of Howard R. Berman provide a summary view of his life's work. The papers include research materials on human rights in general, the sources and development of aboriginal rights of Indian nations within North America and their modern applications with regard to the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations, Iroquois Confederacy), indigenous peoples from around the world, and the international forums that address rights of minorities and indigenous populations, i.e., the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN).

The papers include over 1300 indexed items in 59 archival boxes (30 linear feet). Several oversized items, mostly maps, are stored separately. Items include original writings (essays, reports, correspondence, and course materials) by Mr. Berman; unpublished conference papers and research proposals; photocopies of journal articles, bibliographies, correspondence, book excerpts, and Congressional materials, maps, and official working documents from the ILO, the UN and other international organizations.

For more information about the papers, consult the finding aid


Tributes by Oren Lyons and John Mohawk

Read the remarks by Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, Professor in American Studies at the University at Buffalo, and the late John Mohawk, Co-Director of the Center for the Americas at the University at Buffalo, given at a Law Library reception on April 4th, 2001.

28 CAL. W. INT'L. L.J.Spring 1998, reprinted with permission from the California Western Law Journal, including a bibliography of Professor Berman's work.


Articles about the Berman Collection

  • Access! A Newsletter from the University at Buffalo Libraries, Autumn, 1999.
  • "Library Coup", UB Today, Spring/Summer 2000, p. 5.
See also:

Tributes to Howard R. Berman made at a reception for donors in the Law Library, April 4, 2001

Introduction by Karen Spencer, Archives & Special Collections Librarian: Finally, I would like to mention a very special donor, the reason many of you are here tonight, Howard R. Berman. Howard taught American Indian Law and Human Rights Law here in the late 70's and early 80's. He then went on to teach at Harvard and California Western Law School. He devoted his life working tirelessly to develop the rights of indigenous people around the world.

He passed away four years ago this June but his legacy remains. In his will he left the Law Library his entire collection of books and personal papers, including some very rare and precious items. Thanks to Ellen McGrath, our Head of Cataloging, and her staff, we have now catalogued about 85% of the collection.

I first met Howard when I sat in on his American Indian Law class in 1978. Later in 1982 I worked with him closely researching the aboriginal rights of Indians New York State. I lost touch when he went to Harvard. I would hear bits and pieces of what he was doing but never really heard from him until I had the unfortunate but pleasurable experience of speaking to him the April before he died. We were in full discussion then about taking his papers and books and I personally assured him we would take good care of them. I was very pleased to spend a sabbatical last fall organizing all of his personal papers. I created a computerized database which we hope to put up on the web. But they are accessible, at least, here in the Library. It was truly a gratifying experience for me to see the big picture and the progress of his lifework.

Howard's father, Eugene Berman, is here with us tonight along with Howard's sister, Debbie and his niece and nephew, Allison and Aaron. I thank you for joining us this evening in celebrating Howard's gift to the Library and to the world. He truly was a remarkable soul.

As a way of introducing tonight's speakers, Oren Lyons and John Mohawk, who both worked closely with Howard, I would like to read two paragraphs from a memorial given by one of Howard's colleagues at California Western School of Law, John Noyes. It very succinctly describes his work and will give you a flavor of what he dedicated his life to:

Howard Berman labored in the fields of comparative law and international human rights law. His particular expertise concerned group rights of indigenous peoples. This field - the field of group rights in international law-is relatively new, since the human rights system has long been thought to revolve around the relationship between the individual and the state. The problems of indigenous peoples, however, are not new. Their lands and resources are threatened with dispossession. The political and social institutions of indigenous peoples, and their spiritual traditions, are disregarded or suppressed. Howard worked to address these problems conceptually and practically.

Howard Berman had a deep understanding of the legal, historical, and cultural contexts within which indigenous peoples found themselves. His understanding was not purely intellectual. He knew first-hand about the struggle of indigenous peoples to survive, for he was in many essential ways a part of their community. Howard's teaching and scholarship were linked to issues he knew to be of vital importance to this community. He fought against the harm to indigenous peoples wrought by state instrumentalities and by individuals in positions of power. He fought against ignorance, with teaching and scholarship that was both honest and passionate.

With that, I would like to introduce Oren Lyons, who is a professor in American Studies here at the University. He is also a Chief and Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, one of the traditional Haudenosaunee, which most of us know as the Six Nations or the Iroquois Confederacy.


Oren Lyons

Professor, American Studies at UB, Chief and Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation

I am going to talk about Howard as a person I knew in the field. By that, I mean, that we were in places where there were a lot of problems, anxieties, and sometimes confrontations at very high levels. I remember him vividly in 1979-80 at the siege at Akwesasne - the Mohawk siege where the State of New York had attempted to arrest one of the Mohawk chiefs. The Chiefs said you do not have authority to arrest us our land. We are the authority here. Therein, began a military confrontation that went on almost two years.

Howard was employed by the Indian Law Resource Center at the time working with Tim Coulter, an international lawyer working with indigenous peoples. I would say that in all the years I have spent working in the international fields I regard Howard as one of the premier experts on international indigenous law . There were very few: Howard Berman, Tony Simpson of Australia. We were all comrades - companeros. A relationship that went beyond friendship.

In the process of advancing indigenous peoples rights and if you take a look at what Howard has bequeathed to the University, you will see where it began. He has some very good information.

He was a champion of justice. He abhorred injustice. He was a very passionate man, although if you were to meet him on a day to day situation, he was very reserved, very quiet, with a very, very dry sense of humor. But he was really a passionate man.

The Six Nations led a group of indigenous peoples to Europe for the very first time in 1977, to Geneva, to hear the United Nations discuss the human rights of indigenous peoples. From that time, the international aspect really began. It was always international just by the nature of indigenous people, where ever they are, Australia, Africa, Polar Zones, New Zealand, Ocean State Zone in the Pacific, North , South and Central America - over 300 million indigenous peoples - all in various states of disrepair. We had a collegiality of suffering.

In 1977 we led a group of some 144 representatives from North, Central and South America to Geneva for the first time. We began the discussion of human rights. Howard became very heavily involved in that.

The issue of group rights is difficult because the very basis of Western society deals with the individual - the right to property. So when you bring the issue of group rights, it is difficult. If you listen to the term "human rights", it is an individual right as opposed to the state.

The community style gives to its people [as a whole] and the violations that occurred to these people were very difficult to bring., for example, putting up a ski lodge on a mountains sacred to the Lakota People. Placing the action under violation of "group rights" - the nation, the whole group - is a tough concept to bring.

We needed someone to refine it and make people understand how difficult but how common the concept was in actuality.

I remember Howard during the siege. We were bunkered in with guns and so forth in upstate New York 1979-1980. I don't know if you remember it. We were battling the State of New York on the issue of sovereignty. Howard was there in camp. He had been sent to come and report back to Tim Coulter [Indian Law Resource Center]. He came to camp and he stayed. Howard stayed. He became very familiar. We did need advice day to day. The siege ended peacefully after two years. When it did finally go to court, the Mohawks were right. We won.

We took that position. We held that position on principle. It was very dangerous at times. It came very close to a very serious turn of events. But with all kinds of good luck we resolved it. The point I make is that if the Mohawks did not stand for their principle, with the support of their friend Howard Berman, we would have lost.

Howard was very active at the UN. He traveled every year to the United Nations. From that 1977 time we established in 1982 a Working Group for Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in Geneva, in the Division of Human Rights. We began the long process of developing a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They would not allow us to use "peoples." As a matter of fact, this is still in contention. To this date we are "indigenous populations." I contend that the reason we are indigenous "populations" is that as long as we are indigenous "populations", they don't have to worry about "human rights" [which are individual].

So that is the style of the discussion that goes on. We needed the law - the brilliance of these men, Coulter, Simpson, and Berman to help us move through the statement that would stand as the final statement on indigenous peoples around the world.

Eventually, it occurred. In 1992, 1993, we presented the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to ECOSOC [UN Economic & Security Council] for their approval. From 1994 to this year, we have advanced three of the 48 original articles. This gives you some idea of the kind of battle that is going on at that level on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Howard traveled all over. He was in the field. In Norway we met with the Saami people in 1988. Just last year I was in Sweden, someone showed me a photograph of Howard and myself in front of one of the Saami teepees in 1988. It was interesting. It reminded me of the times we were together and where we traveled. In the summer, in Norway and Sweden, the mosquitos are terrible. You don't walk around. I called Howie out and said, "I got to have your picture." He said "alright". The sun is always shining 24 hours a day. So I said, "Howie, stand right there. Just hold it." And as I was saying that I could see the mosquitos dive bombing. He was always very serious. And I kept saying, "Don't move!" I had to laugh…. Never did take that picture.

Howard was an expert. He was an intellect, a very powerful intellect. And when you put passion with that, then you get a combination that is very hard to deal with. He became always part of the indigenous battle no matter where he was. So between those guys that we needed so much and developing our own lawyers… in the meantime, [his death] was a loss - a tremendous loss to our efforts.

Howard was a young man - only fifty years old. I talked with him not very long before he died. I visited with him and we had lunch together. I admired his courage again. He carried it off - he carried off the launch and everything else very well. That was the last time I saw him. Howard never left things undone. He was always thinking ahead - his sense of humor again, too. So he had everything planned - his death was planned, where and all the preparations were planned, and on top of it all, which I thought was superb, he has his body and coffin flown back from San Diego with his frequent flyer miles!

I have been a professor here for 30 years. UB is a proper repository. His family is here. He spent time here - originally did his work here. A lot of things I did not talk about. I would say his legacy, the work that he has done is in the Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Populations. We will get that to say "peoples" in time. And we will get more than 3 articles done - we will get them all done because we have persevered from that time until now and we will continue until it is done.

Thank you all for taking the time to listen.


John Mohawk

Associate Professor, Co-Director of the Center of the Americas, Director of the Center for Indigenous Studies, University at Buffalo

I met Howard when he was a law student and I was a graduate student. He was my friend. There was a moment when he was my lawyer. I had a long and productive relationship with him.

I want to commend the people who have organized, promoted and help fund the library collection he assembled. It was a visionary thing to do. There is nothing else even remotely like it elsewhere in the United States.

The area of law that Howard specialized in was the kind of law that visionaries do - intellectual law. There are not large numbers of dollars lined up to pay people to defend indigenous peoples rights. In fact, most of the time the concept of "indigenous rights" was a contradiction in terms. If you were indigenous, you did not have any rights.

It has only been in the second half of the last century that the idea has been discussed, although the rights have not been terribly aggressively entrenched. But that is not hard to understand because in many areas of the world large sections of land that have not yet been exploited for resources are inhabited by indigenous peoples. The remaining viable rainforests of the world are almost exclusively inhabited by indigenous peoples. As has been happening for several centuries, their lands are sought by people who have plans for development, extraction, and ultimately the alterations that don't include the continued existence of those peoples as distinct peoples.

Howard's work was always well articulated. Howard was a careful thinker and careful user of language. He understood that indigenous rights meant advocating everything it took to the secure the continued existence of distinct peoples as distinct peoples - with their languages, cultures, and political organizations in tact. Howard was one of the earliest people in the world of American legal theory to understand what that meant - the comprehensive way he wrote about that, struggled for that, and went to court with that. He was a lawyer, an intellectual, a friend of ours, and a visionary.

Our university is one of many of hundreds. All universities like to have some kind of signatory thing about them. People like to say, "That university is special because it has something." Buffalo is an unlikely place to have this distinction but it actually does have a few things that are unique. On the other campus in the Health Sciences Library we have one of the most extensive database on medical health resources on indigenous peoples of anyplace in the world.

And now we have the Howard R. Berman collection. It is an excellent place to start as a center for research and study in law and history. Howard left me a couple of volumes which I will give to the Library just as soon as I finish them!

For an area of law which has been around for about 500 years, the reality is that it is a relatively young area of law. There is room here for more intellectual work and research.

Howard was a pioneer. He led the way. He started in Buffalo. His legacy will remain in Buffalo. It will, in fact, make the University, the Law School, and the Law Library a significant place in both that history and as a geographical place - as a place to come and browse. This collection is a wonderful place for that.

It is a wonderful collection especially for looking at early colonial materials. Howard had a propensity for doing something that other scholars didn't. He understood that European colonization meant documents here had collateral documents over there. Howard knew what was in European libraries and he knew that international law and history did not start in New York City. He knew it was trans-Atlantic and then became global.

This collection reflects early thinking about international law, international rights of indigenous people, what international treaties meant when they were made with peoples who were not European. This is important stuff.

I am really happy that it was important enough to make this happen. I am grateful for that and everyone should be proud of yourselves, the University and of Howard. This is a good day. Thank you.

A Tribute to Professor Howard Berman *

The following is reprinted with permission from the California Western Law Journal at 28 CAL. W. INT'L. L.J. Spring 1998

Howard R. Berman (1945-1997)

The California Western International Law Journal is pleased to dedicate this issue to Professor Howard Berman, who served intermittently as a faculty advisor to the Journal during his tenure at California Western School of Law.


Barbara J. Cox **

This is the tribute that I prepared for Professor Howard Berman's memorial service. Rather than revise it to focus more on his professional accomplishments, I have decided to leave it substantially as it was when I gave it at the service. Some of the other authors have focused their contributions on his professional life. It is my hope that this tribute will provide a small glimpse of the multifaceted person he was.

I am grateful for the opportunity to talk about Professor Howard Berman. I am also grateful that this service is several months after his death, because I have had some time to think about my friend and colleague and to remember times that we shared, with a little distance from the last terrible days before his death and the sharp pain of losing him.

In planning this service, we thought about what Howard would have wanted. Hence, my jeans, button-down shirt, and soft-soled shoes (which were his favorite clothes). A time for friends and colleagues to get together to talk about a person we miss and to share stories about him. A reception where Starbucks coffee and Extraordinary Desserts are served (because he loved both).

He would want me to start by thanking the people who were particularly kind and understanding about the battle he fought for the last eighteen months of his life. In particular, he would want to thank Dean Steve Smith and Associate Dean Bill Lynch for giving him a leave of absence during his surgery and radiation treatment and being extremely flexible in helping him schedule his work around the demands of his illness; Professor Katharine Rosenberry for agreeing to teach his scheduled Property 11 class in exchange for her Property I class so that he would not have to prepare a new course during what ended up to be his last teaching semester; and Professor Phil Manns for helping him prepare the legal documents that would assist Cheryl Wecksler, his partner of 18 years, and ensure that she would be able to protect his dignity and choices about how he wanted to die.

He would also want to thank Chief Financial Officer Lenore Fraga for the countless hours spent resolving question after question about California Western's disability and insurance policies, and proactively helping to make those policies provide the protections they were intended to provide but that are never realized without advocacy from those who best understand them. He would want to thank all of his friends and colleagues from here and around the world, who took the time to help make his last months of life retain the color, the spirit, and the humor that were so important to Win. He would most strongly want to thank Professor Christine Hickman and Professor John Noyes for all the time they spent with him and for the innumerable small kindnesses they provided that helped make the limitations of his illness easier to bear.

Most importantly, he would want to thank Cheryl for never leaving his side during those dark days and nights when his body betrayed him, for sharing their eighteen years of life together, and for agreeing to move to Southern California, where neither of them was comfortable living, so that he could do the work that was most important to him.

One of his most abiding legacies to us at California Western can be seen by recognizing the diversity present in this institution, a diversity that did not exist before Howard put his considerable talents to work to change this school. When he and I arrived as first-year law professors in 1987, California Western was a much different place: only one person of color on the faculty and a handful of students of color in the student body. We had not yet made the effort to expand the opportunities for people of color to share the career he chose and the education he valued. We had allowed it to retain its class and race-based privilege, not recognizing that effort had to be made to change legal education so that it could be shared by all people. Today, our institution is much-changed with six faculty members of color and a third of the entering class students of color. He, Christine Hickman, and I founded the Minority Affairs Committee, with the strong support of many of our colleagues who agreed to serve on this largest faculty committee, one made up entirely of volunteers. He guided the committee as chair for numerous years, perhaps most importantly when we were young and floundering, using his political savvy and negotiation skills learned from countless years of working to protect the rights of Native Americans and indigenous peoples throughout the world. He helped hire Jonnie Estell, the guiding force in our Minority Affairs Department, and find equally committed individuals in Linda Dews and Carol Rogers to replace her when she left California Western. His gift to all of us is that we have a strong Minority Affairs program; that we have a diverse faculty, staff, and students; and that we remain able as a private institution to fight off the reactionary attacks on affirmative action and diversity that we in California have seen all too often.

Although Howard was not a person who liked sentimentality, I think he would indulge me in sharing a few special memories with you, knowing that the stories would bring some relief to a day that is filled with pain as we feel his loss.

Moving here at the same time in the summer of 1987, Howard and I formed a friendship that was begun by complaining about how bizarre a place San Diego is. As people coming from the Midwest and Northeast, we were uncomfortable with the constant blue skies and temperate climate, along with its strong Republican leanings and lack of interest in the politics of change.

I was in Wisconsin last Thursday, thinking about Howard and enjoying one of those cold, gray days that we spent many times talking about. He and I both loved those days when one's soul could feel the melancholy of life, those days when one cannot go to work but must spend a day walking in the woods, hands deep in one's pockets, clad in jeans and a heavy jacket, feeling life's existentialism and pondering the dark recesses of our psyches. The difficulty of spending fall in San Diego for us was not just missing the changing colors of the trees and plants, for one can find them if you look carefully. The difficulty of spending fall in San Diego is not having dark, gray days in which to brood. He talked often of cloudy, cold days spent by himself or with Cheryl walking the rocky shores or woods and fields of New England.

I spent such a day on Thursday, having driven two and a half hours each direction to meet an old friend in the woods of central Wisconsin for a few hours time of talking and walking. I thought of Howard so many times that day, missing his laugh, his advice, and his friendship.

Friendship with Howard was another special gift that I received from him. He understood that friends are people who share common beliefs, good conversation, and times enjoying each other's company. But he also understood that friends must sometimes disagree, feel anger and hurt with one another, and cause disappointment and distress. Howard and I disagreed about many things, from the small details of life (his dislike for the wholesome movies I love and the crummy fiction I enjoy) to larger clashes on issues that each of us held dearly. Our friendship was not based on superficial agreement and easy comfort but had struggled through hard times of dismay with one another and heated arguments. That was a gift that I think each of us held dearly, for it is rare to find friends with whom one can walk through anger and dismay. We made it through those times because of the respect we felt for each other, the humor that each of us used to help the other quit taking some issue too seriously, and the trust that we would find a way to work through our disagreements.

I have felt his loss so many times this summer and fall. None quite as strong as now when the seasons are changing and the melancholy in my soul yearns for release. I am grateful for the memories I have, knowing that I shared a friendship with a man who changed me for the better. That is his legacy to me, and I will always have that with me.


Christine B. Hickman ***

While it seems a lifetime ago, it has been just two years since some of us on the faculty learned of Howard's illness. That year, Howard and I were teaching the same section of first-year students. In those first horrible weeks, while we struggled to come to terms with the enormity of his diagnosis, the student rumor mill was fully operative. Students were understandably concerned, and for once, the student rumors could not have been worse than the truth.

Determined to maintain his privacy in the earliest days, I answered no questions-but one day, a worried student of both Howard and mine cornered me and said, "I just have to know if there is something wrong with Professor Berman. I just wouldn't be able to stand that." The student continued, "I mean, you're a nice lady and everything, but Professor Berman is brilliant."

I took no offense. The student was at least right on one count. Howard Berman was undeniably brilliant.

He was well read, well traveled, and well spoken. He could take an amorphous thought, turn it into a theory, and make you feel as though you thought of it yourself. He pushed everyone-students and faculty alike-to their intellectual limits. As we all know, he didn't suffer fools gladly. He didn't suffer fools at all. Indeed, there were a few pretty intelligent people around the school he didn't suffer so well.

But his criticism was never personal or self-serving. Rather, it was based on the principle of ending unfairness, as he saw it. The final proof of this point is in the way he dealt with the utter unfairness of his own fate. For most, a primary reaction to news of a fatal illness is justifiable anger. Yet Howard showed no anger. "Just a random act occurring in the universe," he said time and time again. Never, ever, "Why did this have to happen to me?"

Not that he wasn't sad. The sadness he expressed on an almost daily basis at the thought of leaving his wife Cheryl caused him more pain than any tumor ever could. And knowing Cheryl as I now do, it is easy to see why his devotion to her was so complete.

But there is some comfort in knowing that so many of you - far too many to mention - helped to make the last year bearable. We must thank Steve Smith, who in his first months here took kind and decisive steps giving the faculty its first indication of the moral depth of our new Dean.

Phillip Manns, Linda Dews, and Lenore Fraga, who handled the business issues that arose with a mixture of professionalism and aggressiveness, which served as a reminder of why one always wants to have them on one's side.

Sandy Murray, Anita Simons, and Richard Fink, who in subtle and time-consuming ways were there to offer help before anyone could even think to ask for it.

And finally, to the students, especially the Property and Human Rights students, who let him know that using his last ounce of strength to teach last spring was, in the end, worth it. We are so thankful that he came our way.

Because Howard came our way, none of his former students, whether now a corporate counsel or a public defender, will be able to read the newspaper and skip over the articles on slavery in Mauritania, or executions in Nigeria, or landmines in Bosnia. It doesn't matter that these issues do not touch their field of practice, because from Howard's human rights course they have gained some universal understanding. They have learned that they are "a piece of the continent; a part of the main."

Because Howard came our way, never again will the student body of California Western be just a reflection of the San Diego Bar; instead, it will always reflect at the very least the San Diego community in all of its rich diversity.

Because Howard came our way, corporations and nations will have to be a little craftier before they place toxic hazards near the indigenous people of Taiwan or seek to curtail the rights of the native peoples he counseled all over the world.

These are striking professional accomplishments to be sure. But it is not why we miss him so.

We miss that deep voice, which sounded like it came from the back of a cave, that greeted us at school in the morning.

We miss the recalcitrant Luddite, who lived without benefit of a microwave oven or answering machine. A scholar whose prose flowed more easily from the point of his pen than from WordPerfect.

We miss the paradox of a guy who wouldn't dream of seeing a truly popular movie yet was a devoted fan of reruns of "In Living Color" and "Sgt. Bilko."

We miss the activist from the 60s who, unlike so many others, did not give up his principles, his blue jeans, or his Wallabies.

We miss the friend who appreciated our humor, shared our meals, and shared our lives.

We miss the man who started out as my coworker and who, in the end, became my brother.

We can never really say goodbye to someone whose spirit is with us in so many ways. Howard brought us intelligence, wisdom, and direction-and we thank him for this. But more than this, as the Negro spiritual says, my friend "brought joy, great joy to my soul."


John E. Noyes ****

My friend and colleague, Howard Berman, died on June 18, 1997, just shy of his fifty-second birthday. His untimely death is a loss to the faculty and students at California Western School of Law, where he was a respected teacher and an active member of the School of Law community since joining the faculty in 1987. His passing is also a great loss to the wider international legal community.

Howard Berman labored in the fields of comparative law and international human rights law. His particular expertise concerned group rights of indigenous peoples. This field - the field of group rights in international law-is relatively new, since the human rights system has long been thought to revolve around the relationship between the individual and the state. The problems of indigenous peoples, however, are not new. Their lands and resources are threatened with dispossession. The political and social institutions of indigenous peoples, and their spiritual traditions, are disregarded or suppressed. Howard worked to address these problems conceptually and practically.

Howard Berman had a deep understanding of the legal, historical, and cultural contexts within which indigenous peoples found themselves. His understanding was not purely intellectual. He knew first-hand about the struggle of indigenous peoples to survive, for he was in many essential ways a part of their community. Howard's teaching and scholarship were linked to issues he knew to be of vital importance to this community. He fought against the harm to indigenous peoples wrought by state instrumentalities and by individuals in positions of power. He fought against ignorance, with teaching and scholarship that was both honest and passionate.

I once asked Howard which of the scores of different indigenous groups he kept up with. He said, "I try to keep up with all of them." I suspect he did keep up with all of them. I admired the fact that Howard continually read and learned. He immersed himself in his field.

I knew Howard Berman as a respected counselor. He was legal advisor to the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Each summer took him to Geneva, Switzerland, and meetings of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. At the sessions in Geneva, the problems of indigenous peoples worldwide were analyzed, and much work was done in an effort to memorialize a meaningful recognition of indigenous rights in the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (1) These sessions involved complex negotiations. Howard brought his expertise and his considerable negotiating skills to bear on the work in Geneva, and he was instrumental in developing the Draft United Nations Declaration. He also served as the Chair of the American Society of International Law's Interest Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

I also knew and admired Howard as a sought-after speaker and well respected scholar in his field. In the last full academic year before his illness struck - 1994-1995 - he spoke at conferences and participated in forums in Copenhagen, Geneva, Buffalo, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. In that same year, he published seven different articles, essays, and book chapters! (2)

On a personal level: Howard was my friend. I am still not sure how well I really knew him. But I knew him well enough to know that he loved Cheryl, his wife and partner, deeply. I know Howard valued his friendships with faculty members at California Western and with many in the community of indigenous peoples. I miss him greatly. I miss his dry wit and the evident delight he took in the finer pleasures of the world-New York City's cultural offerings, hiking in the woods, good food, good music, and good books. I, along with all who knew Howard and his work, miss his erudition and his many contributions to international human rights.


1. 34 I.L.M. 541 (adopted by the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Aug. 26, 1994).

2. These publications are listed in the Bibliography of Professor Howard Berman.


* The following are tributes from some of Professor Berman's colleagues at California Western School of Law. In addition, see the tributary essay by Professor Roger Clark of Rutgers State University School of Law, beginning on page 379 of this issue.

** Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, California Western School of Law. Reprinted from remarks presented at Memorial Service held for Howard Berman at California Western School of Law, Oct. 14, 1997.

*** Associate Professor, California Western School of Law. Reprinted from remarks presented at Memorial Service held for Howard Berman at California Western School of Law, Oct. 14, 1997.

**** Professor of Law, California Western School of Law.

Bibliography of Professor Howard Berman

Reprinted with permission from the California Western Law Journal at 28 CAL. W. INT'L. L.J. Spring 1998


Publications

The ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) and Its Antecedents: A Critical Appraisal (manuscript on file with the California Western International Law Journal).

Introductory Note: United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 34 I.L.M. 541 (1995).

American Indian Religious Freedom, in RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS 108 (John Kelsey & Sumner Twiss eds., 1994).

Remarks, The Development of International Recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES "NEVER DRINK FROM THE SAME CUP": PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA 313 (Hanne Veber et al. eds., 1994).

Remarks on the Political Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in VOICES OF THE EARTH: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, NEW PARTNERS AND THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION IN PRACTICE 178 (Leo van der Vlist ed., 1994).

A MODEL PROCESS FOR INDIGENOUS SELF-GOVERNMENT: AN INTERVIEW WITH HOWARD R. BERMAN (Ethnic Conflicts Research Project, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands ed., (1994)).

Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Self-Determination, in 87 PROC. Am. SOC'Y INT'L L. 190 (1994).

The Content of the Right to Self-Determination, in TIBET: THE POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW 86 (Robert McCorquodale & Nicholas Oroz eds., 1994).

Perspectives on American Indian Sovereignty and International Law, 1600-1776, in EXILED IN THE LAND OF THE FREE: DEMOCRACY, INDIAN NATIONS, AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION (Oren R. Lyons & John Mohawk eds., 1992). The Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan, IWGIA NEWSLETTER No. 62, at 108 (1990).

The International Labor Organization and Indigenous Peoples: Revision of ILO Convention No. 107 at the 75th Session of the International Labour Conference, 41 INT'L COMM'N JURISTS REV. 48 (1988), reprinted in ABORIGINAL PEOPLES AND TREATIES 161 (Juanita Ferguson ed., 1989).
International Human Rights Standard-Setting: The Case of Indigenous Peoples, 81 PROC. Am. SOC'Y INT'L L. 282 (1987).

Are Indigenous Populations Entitled to International Juridical Personality?, 79 PROC. AM. SOC'Y INT'L L. 190 (1985).

Teaching Human Rights Law, 35 J. LEGAL EDUC. 428 (1985).

Are Human Rights Universal?, 17 INTERCULTURE 53 (1984).

Violations of the Human Rights of the Mohawk People: Communication to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in RETHINKING INDIAN LAW (Marti Roberge ed., 1982) (with Robert T. Coulter).

The Concept of Aboriginal Rights in the Early Legal History of the United States, 27 BUFF. L. REV. 637 (1978).


Conference Presentations (Partial List):

Speaker, International Law Issues Presented by the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, AALS Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., Jan. 1997 (jointly sponsored by the Sections on International Law, Native American Rights, and Minorities).

Speaker, Land Rights and the Concept of Territoriality, Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Self-Determination as a Means for Combating Social Injustice, held in conjunction with the U.N. World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, Denmark, Mar. 1995.

Speaker, Sovereignty in Conflict, Conference on American Indian Sovereignty, State University of New York at Buffalo, Mar. 1995.

Speaker, Arguments for a New United Nations Charter, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Nov. 1994.

Invited Participant, Forum on Emerging International Issues, Goethe Institute, San Francisco, Nov. 1994.

Speaker, Legal Pluralism and Human Rights, Conference on Cosmovision y Practicas Juridicas Indigenas, Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, Mar. 17-18, 1994.

Speaker, The United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Thematic Analysis, Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights, Taipei, Taiwan, Dec. 10- 11, 1993.

Speaker, Issues in the Implementation of the Right to Self-Determination, Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Self Determination in Practice, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Nov. 10-11, 1993.

Speaker, The Development of International Recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas, National Aulonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Apr. 1993.

Speaker, The Development of International Recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (expanded paper) & The Relevance of Indigenous Rights in the African Context, Conference on Indigenous Peoples in Africa, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 1-3, 1993.

Chair & Speaker, Panel on Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Self Determination, American Society of International Law Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., Apr. 2,1993.

Speaker, The Right to Self-Determination-Issues and Prospects, Conference of International Lawyers on Tibet, London, U.K., Jan. 1993.

Speaker, Reflections on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Then and Now, Panel on 1492 and International Law, Annual Meeting of the International Law Association (American Branch), New York, Nov. 1992.

Chair, Panel on Labor Relations in Transitional Economies, CWSU Overseas Private Investment Corporation Conference on Investing in Central and Eastern Europe, San Diego, Apr. 1991.

Chair, Panel on Self-Determination and the Future of the Nation-State, Annual Meeting of the International Law Association (American Branch), New York, Nov. 1990.

Speaker, The Rights of Peoples in International Law, InterParliamentary Conference on the Legal and Political Status of Tibet, London, U.K., July 1990.

Speaker, Aboriginal Rights in Taiwan, Seminar, Legislative Yuan (Parliament), Taipei, Taiwan, Apr. 1990.

Lecturer, Diplomacy Training Program, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Jan. 1990.

Speaker, The Fourth World in International Law, Conference on the Small Nations of the North in International and Constitutional Law, Julianehab, Greenland, June 1988.

Speaker, Indigenous Peoples in International Human Rights Law, First General Assembly of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Region, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, May 1988.

Speaker, The Jay Treaty and Indian Border-Crossing Rights, Conference on U.S.-Canadian Indian Border Rights, Cornwall, Canada, Apr. 1988.

Speaker, Peoples and Rights: New Patterns, Second World Congress on Human Rights, Dakar, Senegal, Dec. 1986.

Speaker, Indian Nations and the Constitution: A Bicentennial Reflection, American Indian Law Symposium, Columbia University School of Law, Oct. 1986.

Speaker, Indigenous Rights in the National Context: A Comparative Analysis, Conference on the Rights of Peoples, Australian National Commission for UNESCO, Canberra, Australia, May 1986.

Speaker, Indigenous Self-Government in North America, Conference on the Small Nations of the North in International and Constitutional Law, Kautokeino, Norway, July 1985.

Speaker, Racial Discrimination and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Access to International Procedures, Roundtable on Racial Discrimination, International Institute of Human Rights (Strasbourg, France), Santa Clara, California, May 1982.

Speaker, Aboriginal Rights and the International Human Rights System, Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Multinational Challenge, Washington, D.C., Oct. 1982.

Speaker, Indigenous Peoples and International Human Rights, Colloquium on Human Rights Law and Policy, Buffalo, New York, Oct. 1981 (regional meeting of the American Society of International Law).

Speaker, The Proposed United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples: New Horizons or Empty Promises?, Indian Law Conference, New York Law School, New York, Apr. 1980.


United Nations, International Labor Organization, UNESCO Activities:

Representative of the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, Mar. 1995, Nov. 1995.

Representative of the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 1994; adoption of the draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the SubCommission.

Participated as an independent expert in the annual sessions of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations (Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities) 1982-1995; participated in the development of the draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 1988-94.

Legal Adviser, Survival International (U.K.), 76th International Labor Conference, International Labor Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, June 1989; participated in the development of the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169).

Representative of the International Commission of Jurists, 75th International Labor Conference, International Labor Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, June 1988; participated in the development of ILO Convention No. 169.

Legal Adviser, Survival International, International Labor Organization Meeting of Experts on the Revision of Convention No. 107, Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 1986.

Representative of the International Commission of Jurists, United Nations Seminar on Recourse Procedures and Other Forms of Protection Available to Victims of Racial Discrimination and Activities to be Undertaken at the National and Regional Levels, Managua, Nicaragua, Dec. 1981.

Representative of the International Commission of Jurists, UNESCO Conference of Experts on Ethno-Development and Ethnocide in Latin America, San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov. 198 1.

Rapporteur of the Legal Commission, international Non-Governmental Organization Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Land, Geneva, Switzerland, 1981.


Other Professional Activities (Pro Bono) (Partial List):

Chair, American Society of International Law Interest Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 1985-1997.

Board of Advisers, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Copenhagen, 1992-1997.

Consultant, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, The Hague, review of the draft legislation of the Ukraine on the rights of Crimean Tatars, National Policy of Ukraine in Relation to Indigenous Peoples, 1996-1997.

Invited Participant, Consultation on the World Bank and Human Rights Bank Information Center, Washington, D.C., May 1995. (The Center monitors the human rights and environmental consequences of the activities of the World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions.)

Invited Participant, U.S. State Department Consultation on Human Rights Policy, Washington, D.C., Jan. 1995.

Board of Advisors, World Uranium Hearing, Salzburg, Austria, 19901992.

Consultant, Hon. Edward Griffith, Assistant Speaker of the New York State Assembly on the subject of New York-Indian relations, 1990-1991.

Legal Adviser (legal history), Honorable Nations, a documentary film on the Seneca Nation in New York by Steward/Gazit Productions; broadcast on the P. 0. V. Series, P. B. S., July 199 1; awarded an Emmy, Sept. 1992.

Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association, 1987, 1992-1993.

Research Grant, Five Rings Foundation, American Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution, 1987-1988.

Research Grant (Harvard Human Rights Program), Exxon Education Foundation, Curricular Materials on International Human Rights Law, 19851986.

Carnegie Foundation Grant (Hague Academy of International Law Center for Study and Research), Minority Rights in International Law, 1984.