Post by Okwes on Jan 28, 2006 11:55:43 GMT -5
Native Group Takes Land Dispute to UN
Haider Rizvi
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31919
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (IPS) - Feeling cheated and betrayed by
Washington for nearly 150 years, a Native American tribe is now
looking to the United Nations for help in protecting its ancestral
lands.
"Where else do we go?" Carrie Dann, a leader of the Shoshone people
of the United States, told IPS in an interview about why her people
have gone to the U.N. to demand justice.
Dann and other Shoshone leaders maintain that the U.S. government has
used a series of illegal tactics to gain control of their ancestral
lands, including seizures of livestock and the imposition of heavy
trespass fines.
They charge the U.S. government with trying to sell or lease their
land to big corporations involved in gold mining and other
excavations in the area, which has disrupted not only their
traditional way of life, but also caused enormous damage to the
environment.
Last August, Shoshone elders filed a petition with the U.N. Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) calling for action
against the U.S. government for claiming large parts of indigenous
lands as federal property.
CERD was established under an international human rights treaty
called the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It
prohibits racial discrimination and defines it as a breach of
international law.
The Shoshone lands cover about 60 million acres in the states of
Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. These lands, which are known to
contain rich reservoirs of gold, also include a proposed national
repository for radioactive waste.
The U.S. government argues that 90 percent is ''public'' or federally
controlled lands.
The Shoshone people belong to the Numic branch of the larger Uto-
Aztecan language family. In the past two centuries, they also have
been identified as "Snake Indians", according to the Encyclopedia of
North American Indians.
In their petition to the U.N., the Shoshone have argued that the U.S.
government has no right to occupy or privatise their ancestral land
because the treaty it had signed in 1863 does not allow Washington to
do so.
The U.S. government maintains that the Shoshone people have lost
their rights to ancestral lands, as identified in the treaty, due
to "gradual encroachment" by non-Native Americans.
But this argument has failed to fully satisfy U.N. rights officials.
"Has the 1863 Treaty of the Ruby Valley been abrogated in whole or in
part, and if so, following which process?" Mario Yatzis, chairman of
the U.N. Committee, asked the U.S. envoy in Geneva in a letter sent
last August.
In 2004, the U.S. government tried to resolve this issue by passing a
law, known as the Western Shoshone Distribution Act, which allowed
Washington to claim large swathes of indigenous lands by financially
compensating the Shoshone people. However, the compensation to the
tribes is based on the 1872 price for their land and minerals --
about 15 cents per acre.
Shoshone elders say the land is priceless because it is sacred and
central to the survival of their traditions and belief system. Most
Shoshone objected to the procedures that led to the passage of the
controversial act, and refused to accept the money because they
believe their ancestral lands are sacred.
"Our traditional laws tell us we are placed here as caretakers of the
land," said Joe Kennedy, a Shoshone leader and one of the signatories
of the petition.
"We will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. government to cement
its hold on our ancestral land," he added.
Kennedy and others assert that there has never been a legally valid
transfer, sale or cessation of land by Shoshone people.
In his letter, Yatzis also pressed the U.S. for an explanation of
expanded mining and nuclear waste storage on Shoshone ancestral
lands, and for "placing their land up for auction for privatisation".
The letter has a list of 10 questions, which are based on the
Shoshone people' request for "urgent action". If accepted, the U.N.
committee has the power to investigate the U.S. conduct.
In a similar inquiry, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
issued a report in 2003 concluding that the U.S. government's claims
to Western Shoshone land were illegal and contrary to international
human rights law, and that it had used illegitimate means to assert
ownership of the lands.
While the U.S. response to the U.N. body is still pending, Shoshone
elders and their lawyers say they are planning to visit Geneva in
March this year to present more than 11,000 signatures in support of
their petition.
"There is no remedy in the U.S.," Julie Fishel, a Shoshone lawyer,
told IPS. "They are dealing with the treaty by ignoring it. That's
why were going to the U.N."
Both Fishel and Dann are cautiously optimistic that a number of non-
Native groups have joined their campaign to regain control of the
ancestral lands. One is the London-based Oxfam International, a
leading humanitarian and development aid organisation.
"This is a critical issue," Oxfam America's Laura Inouye told
IPS. "This isn't about (American) Indians. It's about everybody."
"This is about not allowing the U.S. government to place corporate
interests before human rights and environmental concerns," she said
of the petition. (END/2006)
Haider Rizvi
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31919
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (IPS) - Feeling cheated and betrayed by
Washington for nearly 150 years, a Native American tribe is now
looking to the United Nations for help in protecting its ancestral
lands.
"Where else do we go?" Carrie Dann, a leader of the Shoshone people
of the United States, told IPS in an interview about why her people
have gone to the U.N. to demand justice.
Dann and other Shoshone leaders maintain that the U.S. government has
used a series of illegal tactics to gain control of their ancestral
lands, including seizures of livestock and the imposition of heavy
trespass fines.
They charge the U.S. government with trying to sell or lease their
land to big corporations involved in gold mining and other
excavations in the area, which has disrupted not only their
traditional way of life, but also caused enormous damage to the
environment.
Last August, Shoshone elders filed a petition with the U.N. Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) calling for action
against the U.S. government for claiming large parts of indigenous
lands as federal property.
CERD was established under an international human rights treaty
called the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It
prohibits racial discrimination and defines it as a breach of
international law.
The Shoshone lands cover about 60 million acres in the states of
Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. These lands, which are known to
contain rich reservoirs of gold, also include a proposed national
repository for radioactive waste.
The U.S. government argues that 90 percent is ''public'' or federally
controlled lands.
The Shoshone people belong to the Numic branch of the larger Uto-
Aztecan language family. In the past two centuries, they also have
been identified as "Snake Indians", according to the Encyclopedia of
North American Indians.
In their petition to the U.N., the Shoshone have argued that the U.S.
government has no right to occupy or privatise their ancestral land
because the treaty it had signed in 1863 does not allow Washington to
do so.
The U.S. government maintains that the Shoshone people have lost
their rights to ancestral lands, as identified in the treaty, due
to "gradual encroachment" by non-Native Americans.
But this argument has failed to fully satisfy U.N. rights officials.
"Has the 1863 Treaty of the Ruby Valley been abrogated in whole or in
part, and if so, following which process?" Mario Yatzis, chairman of
the U.N. Committee, asked the U.S. envoy in Geneva in a letter sent
last August.
In 2004, the U.S. government tried to resolve this issue by passing a
law, known as the Western Shoshone Distribution Act, which allowed
Washington to claim large swathes of indigenous lands by financially
compensating the Shoshone people. However, the compensation to the
tribes is based on the 1872 price for their land and minerals --
about 15 cents per acre.
Shoshone elders say the land is priceless because it is sacred and
central to the survival of their traditions and belief system. Most
Shoshone objected to the procedures that led to the passage of the
controversial act, and refused to accept the money because they
believe their ancestral lands are sacred.
"Our traditional laws tell us we are placed here as caretakers of the
land," said Joe Kennedy, a Shoshone leader and one of the signatories
of the petition.
"We will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. government to cement
its hold on our ancestral land," he added.
Kennedy and others assert that there has never been a legally valid
transfer, sale or cessation of land by Shoshone people.
In his letter, Yatzis also pressed the U.S. for an explanation of
expanded mining and nuclear waste storage on Shoshone ancestral
lands, and for "placing their land up for auction for privatisation".
The letter has a list of 10 questions, which are based on the
Shoshone people' request for "urgent action". If accepted, the U.N.
committee has the power to investigate the U.S. conduct.
In a similar inquiry, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
issued a report in 2003 concluding that the U.S. government's claims
to Western Shoshone land were illegal and contrary to international
human rights law, and that it had used illegitimate means to assert
ownership of the lands.
While the U.S. response to the U.N. body is still pending, Shoshone
elders and their lawyers say they are planning to visit Geneva in
March this year to present more than 11,000 signatures in support of
their petition.
"There is no remedy in the U.S.," Julie Fishel, a Shoshone lawyer,
told IPS. "They are dealing with the treaty by ignoring it. That's
why were going to the U.N."
Both Fishel and Dann are cautiously optimistic that a number of non-
Native groups have joined their campaign to regain control of the
ancestral lands. One is the London-based Oxfam International, a
leading humanitarian and development aid organisation.
"This is a critical issue," Oxfam America's Laura Inouye told
IPS. "This isn't about (American) Indians. It's about everybody."
"This is about not allowing the U.S. government to place corporate
interests before human rights and environmental concerns," she said
of the petition. (END/2006)