Update: Onondaga Nation’s Request goes International

map of the Organization of American States
via Wikimedia
this image is in the public domain

Last Fall, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the Onondaga Nation’s request for legal treaties to be honored.

The Onondaga Nation is now bringing the Land Rights Action to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the Commission), which is part of the Organization of American States. As Jeanne Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation says,

“This Commission has demonstrated, through rulings in other cases, a profound respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, demonstrated in part by its reliance on and respect for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [the Declaration].”

The Commission has been debating other human rights questions such as whether the “home” of a corporation is liable for the corporation’s actions abroad. It has also been examining the persistent discrimination that underlies violence against women, and ways to abolish the death penalty.

Consider that while the United States Department of State (The Department) points out that the Declaration is not legally binding, it recognizes that the Declaration “has both moral and political force.” The Department also recognizes that the Declaration improves relations with indigenous people. This leads me to be hopeful about the outcome of this next step by the Onondaga Nation.
You can become a Neighbor of the Onondaga Nation and support the Land Rights Action.