Indian nations and tribes and other indigenous communities throughout the world are afflicted by poverty, poor health and discrimination. Subjected to grave human rights abuses, many Native peoples are under siege, and some of them are being torn apart. Indian land and natural resources are often expropriated or degraded, and sometimes destroyed. When indigenous people are deprived of their ways of life and their ties to the earth, they suffer, and many have disappeared completely.

Profoundly aware that when any culture ceases to exist, the whole world is irrevocably diminished, the Indian Law Resource Center was created for the sole purpose of helping Native peoples. Toward this end, the Center is dedicated to assisting indigenous peoples combat racism and oppression, realize their human rights, protect their lands and environment, and achieve sustainable economic development and genuine self-government.

The Indian Law Resource Center seeks to overcome the devastating problems that threaten Native peoples by advancing the rule of law, by establishing national and international legal standards that preserve their human rights and dignity, and by challenging the governments of the world to equally esteem all human beings.