IPS-English RIGHTS-US: Native Group Takes Land Dispute to UN Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 15:15:42 -0800 ROMAIPS NA WD DV HD IP IN=20 RIGHTS-US: Native Group Takes Land Dispute to UN Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (IPS) - Feeling cheated and betrayed by Washington= for nearly 150 years, a Native American tribe is now looking to the Unit= ed Nations for help in protecting their ancestral lands. =94Where else do we go?=94 Carrie Dann, a leader of the Shoshone people o= f the United States, told IPS in an interview about why her people have g= one to the U.N. to demand justice. Dann and other Shoshone leaders maintain that the U.S. government has use= d a series of illegal tactics to gain control of their ancestral lands, i= ncluding seizures of livestock and the imposition of heavy trespass fines= =2E They charge the U.S. government with trying to sell or lease their land t= o big corporations involved in gold mining and other excavations in the a= rea, 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 agains= t the U.S. government for claiming large parts of indigenous lands as fed= eral property. CERD was established under an international human rights treaty called th= e Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It prohibits ra= cial 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 radio= active waste. The U.S. government argues that 90 percent is ''public'' or federally con= trolled 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 identifie= d as =94Snake Indians=94, according to the Encyclopedia of North American= Indians. In their petition to the U.N., the Shoshone have argued that the U.S. gov= ernment 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 ri= ghts to ancestral lands, as identified in the treaty, due to =94gradual e= ncroachment=94 by non-Native Americans. But this argument has failed to fully satisfy U.N. rights officials. =94Has the 1863 Treaty of the Ruby Valley been abrogated in whole or in p= art, and if so, following which process?=94 Mario Yatzis, chairman of the= U.N. Committee, asked the U.S. envoy in Geneva in a letter sent last Aug= ust. In 2004, the U.S. government tried to resolve this issue by passing a law= , known as the Western Shoshone Distribution Act, which allowed Washingto= n 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 centra= l to the survival of their traditions and belief system. Most Shoshone ob= jected to the procedures that led to the passage of the controversial act= , and refused to accept the money because they believe their ancestral la= nds are sacred. =94Our traditional laws tell us we are placed here as caretakers of the l= and,=94 said Joe Kennedy, a Shoshone leader and one of the signatories of= the petition. =94We will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. government to cement its = hold on our ancestral land,=94 he added. Kennedy and others assert that there has never been a legally valid trans= fer, sale or cessation of land by Shoshone people. In his letter, Yatzis also pressed the U.S. for an explanation of expande= d mining and nuclear waste storage on Shoshone ancestral lands, and for =94= placing their land up for auction for privatisation=94. The letter has a list of 10 questions, which are based on the Shoshone pe= ople' request for =94urgent action=94. If accepted, the U.N. committee ha= s the power to investigate the U.S. conduct. In a similar inquiry, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issue= d a report in 2003 concluding that the U.S. government's claims to Wester= n Shoshone land were illegal and contrary to international human rights l= aw, and that it had used illegitimate means to assert ownership of the la= nds. While the U.S. response to the U.N. body is still pending, Shoeshine elde= rs and their lawyers say they are planning to visit Geneva in March this = year to present to present more than 11,000 signatures in support of thei= r petition. =94There is no remedy in the U.S.,=94 Julie Fishel, a Shoshone lawyer, to= ld IPS. =94They are dealing with the treaty by ignoring it. That's why we= re going to the U.N.=94 Both Fishel and Dann are cautiously optimistic that a number of non-Nativ= e groups have joined their campaign to regain control of the ancestral la= nds. One is the London-based Oxfam International, a leading humanitarian = and development aid organisation. =94This is a critical issue,=94 Oxfam America's Laura Inouye told IPS. =94= This isn't about (American) Indians. It's about everybody.=94 =94This is about not allowing the U.S. government to place corporate inte= rests before human rights and environmental concerns,=94 she said of the = petition. ***** +Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (http://www.ohchr.= org/english/bodies/cerd/) (END/IPS/NA/WD/HD/IP/DV/IN/HR/KS/06) =20 =3D 01261614 ORP007 NNNN