Please help us get out this Urgent Alert
Call for Rapid Response letters and witnesses to travel to Black Mesa Arizona.
Peabody Coal Company destroys a
Kiva containing 28 ancient Anasazi burial remains
We urge individuals and organizations to send this rapid response letter
and share it with your friends and networks. It is crucial that the
Dineh-UN investigation is supported by individuals, organizations and the
international Non Governmental Organization (NGO) community.
In September, 1998, Mr. Amor, the UN investigator of the UN Commission on
Human Rights will be presenting his report on the US to the General
Assembly. But in flagrant disregard of the UN investigation and US law, the
US Department of Interiorís Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has allowed
Peabody Coal Company to begin construction on Hopi Partition Land (HPL), an
area in which a 20-year moratorium was in place and prior to a permit
approval being granted. Residents living inside the proposed expansion
area are being harassed, intimidated and pressured to relocate. They
continue to be denied any participation in the permit review process and
are unable to protect their homes, cemeteries and sacred sites from
industrial activities.
A Kiva (Indigenous Church or Synagogue) containing 28 ancient Anasazi
burial remains was just destroyed by Peabody Coal Company. Please help the
Dineh protect their land by documenting your support of the Dineh peoplesí
human rights.
Please send a letter/fax to each of the following and copy SDN NY Support
Group either by US mail or E-mail. We are also asking for human rights
observers to travel to Black Mesa to support the elders.
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YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL LETTERHEAD AND LOGO
DATE
To:
Ms. Elsa Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Representative for the High Commissioner
for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
for: Ms. Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and
Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance,
UN Commission on Human Rights
Room 2914, Secretariat, UN Headquarters
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 963-4097
Phone: (212) 963-5930
AND
Professor Saul Mendlovitz, Tribunal Chair and Dr. Clarence Dias, Advisor
The International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment
475 Riverside Drive, Room 246
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 870-2392
Phone: (212) 870-2391
AND
Mr. Willis L. Gainer, Director
Albuquerque Field Office
U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining (OSM)
595 Marquette Avenue Suite 1200
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Fax: (505) 248-5081
Phone: (505) 248-5096
Dear Ms. Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Ms. Robinson, Mr. Amor, Professor
Mendlovitz, Dr. Dias, and Mr. Gainer,
We believe that the UN Commission on Human Rights and the US government
must urgently address the destruction of Dineh (Navajo) lands before it is
too late. The Dineh, many of them elderly, do not speak, read or write
English, and are denied any right to protect their homes, cemeteries, and
sacred sites. The Dineh people have been denied any legitimate
participation and redress to those affected. Living in the shadow of
Peabody Coal Company, for over 3 decades, they have been denied all
services, including electricity and access to water.
We are concerned that their culture and human rights are being sacrificed
in order to provide short-term profits for a non-sustainable industry that
also threatens the regional and global environment. Their sacred land,
estimated to contain 21 billion tons of coal within 6 feet of the surface
is being destroyed by industrial activities.
The Dineh demonstrate the abuse suffered by Indigenous peoplesí living in
communities that are directly affected by mining operations. It was the
intent of the Surface Mining Coal Reclamation Act (SMCRA), that no
government-sponsored coal mine could evict people. However, in reality,
Indigenous people are not afforded this protection because they are treated
as tenants at the will of their tribal council governments, whose
continuation is dependent upon coal mining revenues.
Such policies as they are presently applied allows tribal councils to evict
people and Peabody Coal Company to destroy burial sites at a minutes notice
if their presence impedes mining operations. The granting of land title to
the tribal councils rather than to the homeowner denies the rights of
people living in a mining permit area.
Currently, the Hopi Tribal Council is in the process of granting approval
of a mining permit on HPL in spite of the moratorium. And Peabody, in
flagrant disregard of the law, began construction on HPL prior to OSMís
approval of the mining permit. OSM must immediately demand that Peabody
Coal Company cease all new construction until the permit approval process
is completed, first allowing directly affected residents to participate in
the permit review process. OSM must cite Peabody for all applicable
violations of federal law including the destruction of a Kiva containing 28
ancient Anasazi human remains. The desecration of Dineh cemeteries must stop!
Peace Brigades International (PBI) visited the traditional Dineh and Hopi
people. In their June 1997 report they state: ìThe Dineh believe that the
Hopi Tribal Council, once it has secured the right to the land, intends to
lease it to mining companies, even though the Tribal Council points out
that they have had in place a 20-year moratorium on all mining on Hopi lands.î
We believe that the UN should cite the US for human rights violations
against the Dineh and pressure the US to recognize and respect the Dineh
peoplesí right to protect their homes, cemeteries, sacred sites and
ancestral lands. The preservation of the Dineh land-base is essential to
the existence and perpetuation of their tribal society and culture. The
land, which they regard as sacred must be protected.
Sincerely yours,
NAME
ORGANIZATION
ADDRESS
cc: SDN NY Support Group, 231 Frost Street # 2L, Brooklyn, NY 11211
E-mail: sdnation@earthlink.net