PLEASE SUPPORT THE DINEH PEOPLE BY SIGNING-ON TO THIS SAMPLE LETTER

 

ORGANIZATIONAL LETTERHEAD

 

DATE

 

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 Comission on Human Rights

Room 2914, Secretariat, UN Headquarters

New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 963-5930

Fax: (212) 963-4097

 

Dear Ms. Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Ms. Mary Robinson and Mr. Abdelfattah Amor,

 

We wish to join with other members of the international community in

support of the United Nations (UN) investigation of human rights violations

perpetuated against the Dineh people by the US government. We urge you to

preservere to ensure examination of the full scope and magnitude of the

crisis facing the Dineh and all Indigenous peoplesí in the US. Currently,

mechanisms within the UN where Indigenous peoples can turn for redress for

violations of their rights barely exists. We believe that the UN system

must urgently addresses this before it is too late.

 

The last frontier lands in the US containing metallic and non-metallic

resources, are found on Indigenous peoples' territories. Indigenous

peoplesí have been fighting for more than 500 years to preserve the earth's

wealth for the generations to come. However, what was preserved, at the

cost of many lives, is now being ravaged by unscrupulous multinational

corporations, whose rights are given protection over and above that of

Indigenous peoplesí.

The non-recognition of the rights of the Dineh and all Indigenous peoples

by the US, such as their rights to their ancestral territories and the

resources found therein is responsible for destruction of their cemeteries,

sacred sites, cultural property, livelihood, and self-determination. The

distinct identity of the Dineh and all Indigenous clan, tribe, or nation,

is crucially linked to the lands they have occupied since time immemorial.

Displacement from such territories means the destruction of their identity,

cultures, and lifeways - ethnocide.

 

In the case of the Dineh people, we see the adverse effects of US

governmental policies and a multinational, British-owned Peabody Coal

Companyís mining operations. They are responsible for destroying the

survival options of the Dineh people, and for glaring human rights

violations. We condemn US governmental policy that has used over $350

million US taxpayer dollars to fund the relocation of over 12,000

traditional Dineh people from their land and has allowed their homes,

cemeteries and sacred sites to be destroyed by industrial activities.

 

A few thousand Dineh still remain in the region, resisting all efforts by

the US government to starve them and freeze them off their land. For over

3 decades, the Dineh have been denied all services, including electricity,

access to water and the right to fix their homes; even in cases of

demonstrated medical need. Their livestock upon which they are dependent

for their survival is confiscated at the governmentís discretion.

 

We believe that the UN should cite the US for human rights violations

against the Dineh and all Indigenous peoplesí and pressure the US to

recognize and respect their human and religious rights; including their

right to their 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 their home for generations and

generations to come, and which is sacred to them, must be disposed to the

Dineh people in order to protect it from the economic interests held by the

US government and the tribal councils they created.

December 10, 1997, Human Rights Day marked the beginning of a year-long

ìjubileeî celebration, the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights during the UN Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples. We

call for a UN Decade for Human Rights and believe this is necessary in

order to ensure the reality of human rights for everyone.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

NAME

ORGANIZATION

ADDRESS

 

cc: SDN NY Support Group 231 Frost Street #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11211

E-mail: sdnation@earthlink.net

 

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PETITION CAMPAIGN

____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

 

CALL FOR HELP

 

To: Ms. Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights and Mr.

Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, UN

Commission of Human Rights

 

We the undersigned, support the call for help of the Dineh (Navajo) people

facing forced eviction in northeastern Arizona. We support the United

Nations investigation of human rights violations perpetuated against the

Dineh people by the US government.

 

US governmental policies and British-owned Peabody Coal Companyís mining

operations are destroying the survival options of the Dineh people,

resulting in glaring human rights violations. The US Government and

industry must recognize the Dineh peopleís human and religious rights,

including their right to their ancestral land and property rights. 1998

marks the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Forced evictions, displacement and US government starvation tactics against

the Dineh People must stop. The preservation of the Dineh, their land

base, sacred sites and subsistence livestock are essential to the existence

and perpetuation of their tribal society and culture. Over $350 million US

taxpayer dollars has been used to fund Relocation. We do not want our tax

dollars funding Relocation.

 

Signature Printed Name Address E-Mail or Phone

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Sovereign Dineh Nation (SDN), Roberta Blackgoat, Chairperson

P.O. Box 349 Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039

 

PLEASE SEND COMPLETED PETITIONS TO:

SDN NY Support Group 231 Frost Street #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11211

E-mail: sdnation@earthlink.net

 

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BACKGROUND INFORMAITON

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Sovereign Dineh Nation NY Support Group

* Dineh - United Nations News*

June 1998

 

231 Frost Street #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Telephone: (718) 349-1841

E-mail: sdnation@earthlink.net

____________________________________________________________________________

____________

The Dineh families in Black Mesa Arizona are reaching out to the

international community:

The Dineh (Navajo) families are reaching out in their struggle for

survival and protection of the earth. Their lives, their culture, and their

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 land is estimated to contain 21 billion tons of coal

within 6 feet of the surface, and the US government is the legal holder of

land title to the reservations, holding the land in trust for the benefit

of the tribes and their members. Their relocation is funded by US taxpayer

dollars. Over 350 million has already been spent.

The Dineh case serves as a general model that demonstrates the

abuse suffered by Indigenous people 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 British-owned 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.

_________________________________________

Dineh Delegation travels to the UN

_________________________________________

 

A Dineh delegation traveled to New York for a week in late April,

1998, to participate in various United Nations (UN) and UN related events,

including the second session of the International Peoples Tribunal on Human

Rights and the

 

Environment (IPT); the Womenís Environment and Development (WEDO) workshop

on Industrial Hot Spots; the sixth session of the United Nations Commission

on Sustainable Development (UN CSD), and a forum on Indigenous Land Rights

at Hofstra University in Long Island, NY.

The Dineh case was one of 18 cases in a report jointly published by

WEDO and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs entitled ìWomen

Transform the Mainstreamî (UN Background Paper No. 30, DESA/DSD/1998/30,

98-10869). This document was distributed to the governments and NGOs at UN

CSD. Copies can be ordered for $5.00 each from WEDO, 355 Lexington Avenue,

Third Floor, NY, NY 10017-6603.

An article ìUN Rapporteur Visits Native Americansî appeared in the

February-April 1998 edition of ìGO BETWEENî, a magazine published by the

United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service-Servicing the UN system and

NGO community for 23 years.

_______________________________________

 

Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

_______________________________________

 

NGOs are the representatives of civil society, and are responsible for

a growing momentum dedicated to the defense of peoples human rights

worldwide. Many are advocating that urgent action be taken by every sector

of society, including the governments, to establish mechanisms and

instruments able to adjudicate human rights violations within UN jurisdiction.

NGOs are aware that human rights violations perpetuated by

multinational corporations are accelerating, caused by coal mining and

other unsustainable use of resources, particularly affecting water.

Human rights advocates and environmentalists need to work together in

order to protect the environmental health of the planet and the civil

rights of its inhabitants. It is acknowledged that all rights are

universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Womenís rights are

human rights. All peoplesí have a human right to a healthy environment, to

full and equal participation in environmental decision-making and

development planning at all levels, including the right to organize to

protect the environment, the right to have access to full and accurate

information about the environ-ment and to safe working conditions.

Environ-mental and human rights standards must be applied to the operations

of all multinational corporations, including those operating within the

borders of the US.

____________________________________________

 

NGOs support Dineh

____________________________________________

 

The Dineh have the support of numerous human rights organizations, the

European Parliament, the Flemish Parliament. the National Education

Association (NEA), etc.

A delegation of 15 NGOs traveled to Arizona to support the Dineh

meeting with the UN investigator in early February. These NGOs, many

accredited to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), included

representatives from the General Board of Church and Society of the United

Methodist Church, World Council of Churches, National Council of Churches,

the Decade Committee of the Worldís Indigenous Peoples, National Council of

Women, Peace Caucus, Human Rights Caucus, Values Caucus and others. Their

purpose to witness this historic meeting and uphold the mandate of Mr.

Amor. The Dineh case, reviewed by four Anthropologists, was submitted to

Mr. Amor and the High Commissioner for Human Rights along with a complete

set of both written and oral testimonies presented.

 

_________________________________________

The 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration

______________________________________

 

December 10, 1997, Human Rights Day marked the beginning of a

year-long ìjubileeî celebration, the 50th Anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, during the UN Decade of the World's Indigenous

Peoples. National and international law must be enacted that protects

Indigenous peoplesí land, property and water rights, as defined by

Indigenous peoplesí. Land, water, religious rights must be restored and the

title to their land returned.

The US government, holders of Indigenous land title, violated their

Trust responsibility to the Indigenous peoples, in order to gain access to

the mineral riches. And in order to ensure protection of land, property

and water rights, the land title must be returned to the individual members

of a tribe when the US government or the tribal government they created

violates the rights of their members, just as each US citizen is guaranteed

these rights without discrimination.

However, in order to achieve human rights for everyone we need to call

for a Decade of Human Rights in the same way that Indigenous people called

for a Decade of the Worldís Indigenous Peoples during the Year of the

Worldís Indigenous Peoples.

____________________________________________

UN Calendar

_________________________________________

 

In September 1998, Mr. Abdelfattah Amor will present his report on the

US to the General Assembly in September. A Dineh delegation hopes to

travel to NY to meet with Mr. Amor, faith-based and other NGOs to discuss

the report and what to do.

At the end of January 1999, the Commission on Social Development will

address older people as their theme. For the first two weeks in March,

1999, the Commission on the Status of Women will address health.

In March/April 1999, Mr. Amor will give his report on the US to the UN

Human Rights Commission, Geneva, Switzerland. A Dineh delegation hopes to

travel to Geneva to participate in the next session of the Commission on

Human Rights.

 

Please support the UN investigation by writing:

Ms. Elsa Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Representative for the High Commissioner

for Human Rights

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Room 2914, Secretariat, UN Headquarters

New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 963-5930 Fax: (212) 963-4097

Please note that a copy should be sent to:

Ms. Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights and

Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance,

UN Commission on Human Rights

====================================

From: sdnation@earthlink.net

Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 12:49:31 -0700 (PDT)

X-Sender: sdnation@earthlink.net (Unverified)

X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (16)

To: redorman@theofficenet.com

Subject: Part II-Dineh in the UN and NGO News-excerpts

 

_____________________________________

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Dineh in the News

 

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____________________________________

GO BETWEEN

United Nations Non-Governmental

Liaison Service

Servicing the UN system and NGO community

for 23 years

February-April, 1998 page 10

_________________________________________

 

UN NEWS

UN RAPPORTEUR VISITS NATIVE AMERICANS

 

The Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the United Nations

Commission on Human Rights, Abdelfattah Amor (Tunsia), traveled to the US

state of Arizona on 2 February to meet with Dineh (Navajo) Nation elders.

The purpose of the visit, requested by the International Indian Treaty

Council, was to investigate possible US government violations of the rights

of Indigenous peoples to practice and express their religion and religious

beliefs. The meeting which received strong support from numerous European

human rights groups, was witnessed by an inter-faith coalition of NGOs,

including the World Council of Churches, United Methodist Church and the

National Council of Churches.

The special rapporteurís mandate is to investigate clear examples of

international religious discrimination or persecution by governments in all

parts of the world, pursuant to the provisions of the Declaration on the

Elimination of All Forms of In tolerance Based on Religion or Belief.

Native American representatives discussed a range of subjects with Mr.

Amor, including what they described as the prohibition or restrictions on

Native American religious expression in United States federal and state

prisons, as well as international destruction of sacred sites in the US on

Native American reservations.

The Dineh elders who spoke with Mr. Amor are among a group of

ìtraditionalsî resisting relocation from land awarded to the Hopi Nation by

the US government after a two-decade-long legal dispute. In 1997 the Dineh

filed a complaint with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,

charging the US government with human rights violations relating to their

forced relocation. Among other things, they argued that relocation would

violate their right to free religious expression, since many of the sites

sacred to them are on land that is being destroyed by strip mining carried

out by British-owned Peabody Coal Company.

During his visit, Mr. Amor also met with some 150 other Native

American representatives across the United States including representatives

of the Apache, Havasupai, Yaqui and Tohono OíOodham Nations, about the

spirituality of indigenous peoples. He will present a report on the

results of his findings for submission to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

_____________________________________

OUTREACH 1998

Reporting for the CSD/NGO Steering Committee

_________________________________________

The Newsletter of the NGO Community at the U.N. Commission on Sustainable

Development

Wednesday, April 29, 1998 Page 8

 

The Reality of Freshwater

by Amy Lister

 

On Monday, April 27th, the Womenís Environment and Development

Organization (WEDO) and the DSD/DESA presented a panel of women who came to

the CSD 6 to speak about the freshwater crisis.

The Dineh people of Black Mesa, Arizona, are being starved off their

land by governments in deference to coal deposits that are being accessed

and used without consent, to create electricity (for the people of

California, not the Dineh people). The only suggested site for relocation

is the site of the second greatest nuclear disaster next to Chernobyl.

In 1996, Congress passed a new law that sanctions the mandatory relocation

of most of the Dineh families currently living on the land and forces the

few families who sign leases to this land to live without the benefit of

civil and religious rights enjoyed by other Americans.

The panelís objective was to raise awareness about the urgency of

freshwater issue by coming to the CSD conference and telling their stories

in person. It is by introducing the human element to the discussion of

these crucial issues that change will be made possible. This forum was a

glimpse of preventable devastation that is causing the environmental and

human suffering which is far beyond these womenís stories. They have

compiled a document entitled ìWomen Transform the Mainstreamî. These women

deserve our attention. Our commitment to including a gender perspective in

assessment processes, policy-making, industrial, political and military

practices is vital to ensuring the future livelihood of the environment and

all people of the world.

_________________________________________

OUTREACH 1998

Reporting for the CSD/NGO Steering Committee

_________________________________________

The Newsletter of the NGO Community at the U.N. Commission on Sustainable

Development

Monday, April 27, 1998 Page 7

 

Great Grandmother from Dineh Nation to Testify at

International Peoplesí Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment

by Claire Greensfelder

ìThe reason I am here, in New York City, is that my homeland has many

problemsî said Glenna Begay in a quiet, gentle voice that belied the strain

of the many years of local struggle over Indigenous land rights for her

people near Big Mountain, Arizona. The mother of 9, grandmother of 32, and

great grandmother of one continued: ìFor 24 hours a day, I feel the victim

of mind games being played out by other forces. It is not really the land

struggle, since the Hopis and Navajos (Dineh) have lived together

peacefully for many years. The fundamental issue here is materialism. The

corporations want access to resources and together with the Federal

government they are creating a lot of tension among people.î

Glenna Begay lives in an area that could almost be described as a war

zone. With her home on a small strip situated between the boundaries of

the Peabody Coal Mine and lands partitioned in the Hopi-Navajo Partition

agreement, everybody seems to want her to move. And move from her

traditional home is the one thing that Glenna Begay says she will not do.

ìI want this land struggle to come to an end, and I want to live in peace

and quiet. I did not sign the accommodation agreement with the Federal

government. I love my homeland and I will not sign it.î

ìThe hope I have is from my heart,î says Glenna Begay about the

Tribunal she will speak at today. ìI will explain to people that we are

tied to the land and cannot be torn from it.î She continued, ìThis is

where we make the offerings to our gods and we cannot be taken away from

these sites. All the other elder women in my homeland feel the same way.

I am representing them here, and we are pleading for outside intervention

from the international community. That is why I have come.î

_________________________________________

 

Statement released at the second session of the

International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment

Church Center for the United Nations

_____________________________________

 

The International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment

seeks to provide a forum for communities and peoples who have no other

forum or have been unable to obtain justice in the fora that they

approached. ìAs presented to us, the cases depict: The refusal to respect

the sovereignty and humanity of the First Peoples (in Canada, Mexico and

the U.S.), it is claimed, is the prelude to ethnocide, the pillage of their

lands and resources and the destruction of environment essential for

cultural survival.

The cases involving Indigenous peoples also raise other complex issues

relating to self-determination, and preservation of cultural identity,

jurisdiction of national courts and representation within the United

Nations system.

Serious incidents of genocide were presented to the Tribunal, in

several countries in the cases before us, as well as reports in the

international press and to the UN. Even more to the point for this

Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment was especially moving

testimonies on ecogenocide -- the destruction of ecological systems on

which Indigenous peoples depend for their livelihoods and indeed their very

survival. Genocide in any form is a gross violation of international human

rights and a crime against humanity.

The Tribunal condemns all acts and practices of genocide, anywhere in

the world and calls for an immediate cessation thereof. The Tribunal

recognizes the invaluable contributions of civil society worldwide in

exposing such genocidal

 

practices as well as in the prevention of and protection from such

practices and urges the United Nations system to renew its own efforts to

those ends as well. The Tribunal reiterates its call for global solidarity

to ensure a rule of law premised on respect for justice, human rights, the

environment and for humane governance.î The final Statement of the second

session will present findings in the Dineh and the other cases, and will be

released in December, 1998.

_________________________________________

Christian Social Action magazine

ìStanding Together with the Dinehî

 

ìIf somebody destroys, desecrates, contaminates our land, they are hurting

our beliefs; this is our way of lifeî

 

by Lee Ranck, editor,

Christian Social Action magazine

United Methodist Church

February 1998

_________________________________________

 

ìWeíre struggling to help Christians support indigenous people all

over the world, so our struggle is to support you,î the Rev. Dr. Thom White

Wolf Fassett told close to 200 Dineh (Navajo) in Black Mesa, Arizona,

during a February 2 meeting there. ìWeíll continue to fight for your

justice concerns, and we will leave here taking back your testimony to the

US government, the United Nations and elsewhere to change the policies that

have hurt the Dineh.î

ìFassett, general secretary of the United Methodist General Board of

Church and Society (GBCS) and a Native American, a member of the Seneca

Nation (Six Nations Iroquois), led an interfaith Non-governmental

Organization (NGO) delegation to the Black Mesa home of Glenna Begay, an

elder in the matriarchal Sovereign Dineh Nation. The NGO representatives

were invited by the traditional Dineh to witness the Feb. 3 on-site visit

of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr.

Abdelfattah Amor.î

ìThe NGOs were in Black Mesa to witness the historic meeting between

Mr. Amor and the Dineh,î Liberato Bautista, assistant general secretary of

the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) explained:

ìThey were there as a delegation with one purpose - to stand together with

the Dineh in their struggle and to affirm the importance of the mandate of

the special rapporteur.î

The United Methodist Social Principles provides the foundation for

involvement of the denominationís agencies, and, in fact, of all United

Methodists, in efforts to identify and oppose religious intolerance. That

documentís section on ìRights of Religious Minoritiesî states: îWe urge

policies and practices that ensure the right of every religious group to

exercise its faith free from legal, political, or economic restrictions.

We condemn all overt and covert forms of religious intolerance, being

especially sensitive to their expression in media stereotyping. We assert

the right of all religions and their adherents to freedom from legal,

economic, and social discrimination.î

(Cover photo, editorial and 8 page article with photos)

____________________________________________

 

Sierra Club magazine

Colorado Plateau - Dirty Dodging

July, August 1998, Pg. 63

_________________________________________

 

In a truly masterful act of avoidance, the Mohave power plant on the

Nevada-Arizona border has managed to buck the Clean Air Act for two

decades. Operating without adequate pollution controls, Mohave has dumped

approximately one million tons of sulfur dioxide and one-quarter of a

million tons of particulates into the atmosphere.

In addition to endangering public health, the pollution has impaired

visibility over the Grand Canyon. The cost of installing smoke-stack

scrubbers, claims Southern California Edison, the plantís primary owner,

would shut the plant down, cutting off jobs and income to the nearby Hopi

and Navajo people.

Activists say that other plants in the region have managed to follow

the law, however,. With the plant in the black last year by nearly $1

billion, and an $8 billion deregulation windfall on the way, the plant

owners are just blowing smoke, contends the Grand Canyon Chapter. The

chapter, with the Grand Canyon Land Trust, is suing to force the utility to

come clean.

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

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