Post by Okwes on Feb 23, 2006 9:13:34 GMT -5
Indian tribe takes treaty case to United Nations
Committee has ruled that U.S. owes response to Shoshone
Wednesday, February 22, 2006; Posted: 5:54 p.m. EST (22:54 GMT)
RENO, Nevada (AP) -- An American Indian tribe is heading to Geneva, Switzerland, this month to renew its claims before a United Nations committee that the U.S. government stole ancestral land, the tribe said.
"We see no way we can continue internally in the United States, so we're taking our argument across the water to the United Nations, and the United Nations is listening," Raymond Yowell, chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that an 1863 treaty gave the U.S. government trusteeship over tribal lands in parts of what are now Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California.
But some Shoshone have kept up the fight, even after a majority of their fellow tribe members voted to take a government settlement that has grown to $145 million.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in August 2005 that the tribe's argument that the U.S. policy of "gradual encroachment" after the treaty amounted to racism against an indigenous people deserved a response from the U.S. government.
Attorney Robert Hager, who represents the Western Shoshone, said they were leaving this week for their second trip to Geneva, hoping to garner more international pressure.
"The U.N. can bring pressure on the United States because of the shameful findings," Hager said.
Hager said the United States never established a right to the indigenous land and was granted only limited access under the 1863 treaty.
A bill signed by President Bush in July 2004 gave approval to distributing the more than $145 million in compensation and interest from the 1946 settlement.
"The tribe twice has voted decisively in favor of the distribution," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, a proponent of the bill allowing the settlement funds to be distributed. "The senator will continue to work ... to assure a fair and expeditious distribution under the law."
The funds have been held up, in part because Yowell has asked a federal court to rule whether members would be giving up any treaty rights if they were to accept the payment.
"Unlike all other Indians, (the Western Shoshone) never signed a treaty giving up their land," Hager said. "This government has refused to accept the legal concept of that treaty."
www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/22/tribal.rights.ap/index.html
Committee has ruled that U.S. owes response to Shoshone
Wednesday, February 22, 2006; Posted: 5:54 p.m. EST (22:54 GMT)
RENO, Nevada (AP) -- An American Indian tribe is heading to Geneva, Switzerland, this month to renew its claims before a United Nations committee that the U.S. government stole ancestral land, the tribe said.
"We see no way we can continue internally in the United States, so we're taking our argument across the water to the United Nations, and the United Nations is listening," Raymond Yowell, chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that an 1863 treaty gave the U.S. government trusteeship over tribal lands in parts of what are now Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California.
But some Shoshone have kept up the fight, even after a majority of their fellow tribe members voted to take a government settlement that has grown to $145 million.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in August 2005 that the tribe's argument that the U.S. policy of "gradual encroachment" after the treaty amounted to racism against an indigenous people deserved a response from the U.S. government.
Attorney Robert Hager, who represents the Western Shoshone, said they were leaving this week for their second trip to Geneva, hoping to garner more international pressure.
"The U.N. can bring pressure on the United States because of the shameful findings," Hager said.
Hager said the United States never established a right to the indigenous land and was granted only limited access under the 1863 treaty.
A bill signed by President Bush in July 2004 gave approval to distributing the more than $145 million in compensation and interest from the 1946 settlement.
"The tribe twice has voted decisively in favor of the distribution," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, a proponent of the bill allowing the settlement funds to be distributed. "The senator will continue to work ... to assure a fair and expeditious distribution under the law."
The funds have been held up, in part because Yowell has asked a federal court to rule whether members would be giving up any treaty rights if they were to accept the payment.
"Unlike all other Indians, (the Western Shoshone) never signed a treaty giving up their land," Hager said. "This government has refused to accept the legal concept of that treaty."
www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/22/tribal.rights.ap/index.html