SAN FRANCISCO - More than 500 years after Europeans invaded and colonized the ''New World,'' annihilating most of its original inhabitants and expropriating their resources, human rights violations and an institutionalized racism against indigenous peoples is alive and thriving in the United States, according to the Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report.

The report, prepared by the International Indian Treaty Council and the Western Shoshone Defense Project, was submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in February in Geneva, Switzerland, to be considered in its upcoming examination of the United States.

The report was compiled from submissions from indigenous people, tribes, organizations and communities from around the country, and documents a wide range of human rights violations and systemic racial discrimination in the United States; including the destruction of sacred sites, threats to spiritual and cultural practices, environmental racism, violence against indigenous women, treaty rights violations, widespread discrimination in education, health and prisoners' rights.

The indigenous groups' report ''shadows'' the U.S. official report to UNCERD, called the Periodic Report, which the U.S. government is required to file. During the upcoming review, the U.N. committee will question U.S. representatives on U.S. compliance with the convention based on the Periodic Report.

The Shadow Report documents the failure of the United States in its obligation to report accurately to the UNCERD, citing ''overwhelming disparities'' in income, life expectancy, poverty and unemployment, as well as disproportionate victimization, incarceration and sentencing suffered by indigenous people on Indian reservations.

According to the report, the data ''reflect[s] what can only be described as a system of Apartheid and forced assimilation, by purpose or effect, on many if not most Indian Reservations, where Indigenous peoples are warehoused in poverty and neglect, their only option being to abandon their lands, families, languages and cultures to search for a better life.''

Alberto Saldamando, IITC General Counsel, who co-coordinated the development of the report, said it became clear in compiling the data that the institutionalization of racism and discrimination against Native people is ingrained at every level of U.S. society.

''The data and the many inputs we received from tribes, Native peoples and individuals vividly demonstrate that racial discrimination thrives in schools, universities, prisons and in the so-called administration of justice in the U.S., at every level of government and society at large. Even in textbooks, indigenous peoples in the U.S. are reduced to caricatures with little humanity and even fewer rights, particularly those rights recognized by the recently adopted U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,'' Saldamando said.

Julie Fischel, an attorney working with the Western Shoshone Defense Project and co-coordinator of the report, said he was ''extremely pleased'' with the completion of the Shadow Report.

''The report reflects those voices and the commonality of the struggles of the indigenous peoples of this Turtle Island,'' Fischel said. ''The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has been a strong force in the struggle of the Western Shoshone and other indigenous people. With the information contained in this report, it is our hope to equip the committee with the information it needs to hold the United States and its multinational corporations accountable to the rights of the first peoples and respect for their traditional laws, lands and resources.''

The 87-page report analyzes the racially discriminatory foundations of U.S. ''Indian law'' based on antiquated ''interpretations'' of the U.S. Constitution by the Marshall U.S. Supreme Court in the 1800s, and includes a number of recommendations, including abolishing the U.S. government's ''plenary power'' over indigenous people.

''The federal government, acting through Congress and the executive, continues to take tribal lands and resources, in many cases without payment and without any legal remedy for the tribes,'' the report states. ''Congress frequently deals with Indian property and Indian claims by enacting legislation that would be forbidden by the Constitution if it affected anyone else's property or claims. Because of the federal government's essentially limitless power and constant intrusion under the plenary power doctrine, Indian governments cannot function properly to govern their lands or to carry out much-needed economic development. Constantly under threat of termination or worse, this denial of simple justice has long served to deprive Indigenous Nations of a fair opportunity to advance the interests of their communities. No others in the country are in such an untenable and insecure position,'' the report says.

The report is dedicated to Floyd ''Red Crow'' Westerman, ''who passed into the Spirit World on December 13, 2007.'' It is available at www.treatycouncil.org.