President Barack Obama said on Thursday he was giving a belated U.S. endorsement to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, drawing hearty applause from a gathering of Native Americans. The U.N. declaration recognizes the rights of indigenous groups, like American Indians, in such areas as culture, property and self-determination. The United States was one of a handful of countries to refrain from backing the doctrine in the past, but following a recent review of the government's position, Obama said, “I can announce that the United States is lending its support to this declaration. “The aspirations it affirms — including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples — are ones we must always seek to fulfill,” he said in opening the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Interior Department. He added that “what matters far more than words, what matters far more than any resolution or declaration, are actions to match those words.” added by: Vierotchka