Native group takes land dispute to UN

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, said in an interview about why her people have gone to the UN to demand justice. Dann and other Shoshone leaders maintain that the US government has used a series of illegal tactics to gain control of their ancestral lands, including seizures of livestock and the imposition of heavy trespassing fines. They charge the US 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 UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) calling for action against the US 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 US 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 their petition to the UN, the Shoshone have argued that the US government has no right to occupy or privatize their ancestral land because the treaty it had signed in 1863 does not allow Washington to do so. The US 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 UN 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 UN Committee, asked the US envoy in Geneva in a letter sent last August. In 2004, the US government tried to resolve this issue by passing a law, known as the Western Shoshone Distribution Act, which allowed Washington to claim large swaths 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 US 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 US for an explanation of expanded mining and nuclear waste storage on Shoshone ancestral lands, and for "placing their land up for auction for privatization." The letter has a list of 10 questions, which are based on the Shoshone peoples' request for "urgent action." If accepted, the UN committee has the power to investigate the US conduct. In a similar inquiry, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a report in 2003 concluding that the US 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 US response to the UN 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 US," said Julie Fishel, a Shoshone lawyer. "They are dealing with the treaty by ignoring it. That's why we're going to the UN." Both Fishel and Dann are cautiously optimistic about the act 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 organization. "This is a critical issue," said Oxfam America's Laura Inouye. "This isn't about [American] Indians. It's about everybody." "This is about not allowing the US government to place corporate interests before human rights and environmental concerns," she said of the petition.