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Dear President
Bush, The Oglala Sioux Tribe is writing this letter to demand that
the United States fulfill its obligation to respect and protect the
human rights of Indian peoples in this country. Indian peoples'
ability to survive into the future depends largely on our ability to
maintain, protect and promote our traditional and cultural beliefs,
which includes our ability to practice our spiritual beliefs in
privacy and without disruption. This is not merely a cultural and
spiritual concern; it is a matter of human rights that exist in
international law.
These human rights
have been recognized in two international covenants and conventions -
the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and
the International Labour Organization's Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
Convention (ILO Convention No. 169). The United States signed the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1977. Article
27 of the covenant provides that ''ethnic, religious or linguistic
minorities ... shall not be denied the right, in community with the
other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess
and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.'' The
U.N. Human Rights Committee, charged with monitoring countries'
compliance with the covenant, has determined that with respect to
indigenous peoples, the right to enjoy their own culture includes
particular ways of life associated with the use of certain
territories.
Further, the
committee determined that the enjoyment of these rights may require
positive legal measures of protection to ensure the effective
participation in decisions which affect them. Clearly, under the
covenant, the United States has a legal and moral obligation to take
necessary measures to protect Indian peoples' right to practice their
spiritual beliefs and enjoy their culture, including the use of
sacred sites.
Article 7 of the
convention provides that indigenous peoples ''have the right to
decide their own priorities for the process of development as it
affects their lives, beliefs, institutions and spiritual well-being
and the lands they occupy or otherwise use.'' Article 13 of the
convention provides that ''governments shall respect the special
importance for the cultures and spiritual values of the peoples
concerned of their relationship with the lands or territories, or
both as applicable, which they occupy or otherwise use, and in
particular the collective htmlects of this relationship.'' Although
these rights have been recognized in international law, sadly, the
United States has not ratified ILO Convention No. 169.
The rights
identified in the covenant and the convention go to the heart of the
ongoing struggle at Bear Butte, near Sturgis, S.D., a site that is
held sacred by numerous tribes. Indian spiritual practices at Bear
Butte are facing certain disruption by the granting of hard liquor
licenses and the development of huge outdoor amphitheaters nearby.
With these developments will come noise, crowds and interruption of
the quiet and respect needed for traditional ceremonies - all of this
within two miles of the base of Bear Butte. Bear Butte is but one
example of the numerous attacks across the country on our traditional
ways of life and on our human rights to continue practicing our
spiritual beliefs with dignity and in peace and to decide our own
priorities for development that affect the lands we use and our
spiritual well-being.
In addition to the
previous recognition of these human rights in the covenant and
convention, these rights have been recognized in the U.N. Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recently adopted by the Human
Rights Council of the United Nations. Article 7 of the declaration
provides that ''indigenous peoples have the right ... to maintain,
protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural
sites.'' Article 25 also provides that ''indigenous peoples have the
right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual
relationship with their traditionally ... occupied and used lands ...
and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this
regard.''
Clearly, the
declaration recognizes our human right to ''maintain, protect, and
have access in privacy'' to Bear Butte and our right to uphold our
spiritual responsibility to this sacred site for our children. But
the exercise of these fundamental human rights is sure to be grossly
disturbed by the newest alcohol and concert hall developments taking
place at Bear Butte.
We are calling on
the United States to fulfill its legal obligation to Indian peoples
throughout this country under international human rights law, as
outlined in the covenant and the recently adopted declaration, to
take all possible measures to preserve and protect the sanctity of
Bear Butte.
We are also
calling on the United States to fulfill its legal and moral
obligations to Indian peoples by voting to approve the Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the upcoming September session of
the U.N. General Assembly. The United States cannot meet its existing
legal and moral obligations under international law, nor its
fiduciary obligations under federal Indian law, by voting against (or
abstaining from voting on) the declaration. To take any action other
than voting to approve the declaration would do immeasurable damage
to the ''government-to-government'' working relationship that we have
all worked so hard to achieve. A vote against the declaration would
be a vote against the first peoples of this country.
It is time the
United States lived up to its obligation to respect and promote our
human rights as Indian peoples - particularly our right to continue
practicing our spiritual beliefs at Bear Butte in privacy and
undisturbed. The United States holds itself up to the world as a
champion of human rights. It is time that the United States be a
champion of human rights to the Indian peoples of this country by
voting for the declaration.
Thank you for your
consideration. I look forward to your response.
Alex White
Plume is president of the Oglala Lakota Nation.
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