Littlechild to UN: Indigenous Peoples right to food

United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
2nd Session, 26 – 30 January 2009 Geneva Switzerland

A Joint Intervention, International Organization of Indigenous Resource Development
and the International Indian Treaty Council
Agenda item 2 “The Right to Food”

By Dr. Wilton Littlechild

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Right to Food, and the range of rights required for its full exercise, is affirmed in a array of international instruments. Notably, Article1 in common of the two (2) International Covenants affirms the right of all peoples to freely pursue their economic social and cultural development, as well as their own means of subsistence.

Likewise, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms in Article 20 that “Indigenous peoples have the right…to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.” Many other articles, including Article 26 on land and Natural Resources, and 37 on Treaties also affirm rights that are essential to the exercise of the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples.

Our delegations strongly support the recommendations of the Advisory Committee’s Drafting Group on the Right to Food, in particular recommendation 5, “that the implementation of the concept of Food Sovereignty should be considered”.

Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples was affirmed as a “precondition for Food Security” in the “Declaration of Atitlan” from the 1st Indigenous Peoples’ Global Consultation on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty (Guatemala, 2002). This Declaration also affirmed that Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples is a collective right based on rights to our lands, territories and natural resources, the practice of our cultures, languages and traditions, and is essential to our identity as Peoples.

Subsistence Rights are also recognized in many of the legally-binding international Treaties which our ancestors entered into with settler governments and their predecessors. For example, Treaty No. 6 entered into by Indigenous Nations, including the Cree Nation, and the Crown binds the Canadian Government to ensure our subsistence rights for “so long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.” Our ancestors, at Treaty time, secured our traditional avocations of hunting, fishing, gathering and trapping for food during all seasons.

We warmly thank the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Mr. Jean Ziegler for his recognition of the importance and scope of Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples. In his Interim Report to the UN General Assembly [UN Doc A/60/350] on 12 September 2005, the Rapporteur recognized that in most countries “hunger and malnutrition are disproportionately higher among indigenous than non-indigenous populations” and that “it is therefore urgent to strengthen the protection of the right to food of indigenous peoples, including by improving the protection of their lands and resources”. In this report, the Rapporteur also affirmed states’ obligations “to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food of indigenous peoples”.

We also thank the UN General Assembly for is resolution of 13 March, 2008, which “Stresses also its commitments to promote and protect, without discrimination, the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, in accordance with international human rights obligations and taking into account, as appropriate, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” [GA res 62/164, 13 March 2008 on the report of the Third Committee (A/62/439/Add.2), The right to food, paragraph 12].

We regret to report to this body that a range of factors, including Treaty violations, failure to respect human rights including Free Prior and Informed Consent, imposed development, environmental contamination and Climate Change are seriously impacting the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples around the world.

We urge that the Advisory Council consider and include the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples as noted above in its report and recommendations to the Human Rights Council, as well as in any future work on this vital issue.

We are prepared to submit more detailed information upon the request of this body, and we thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Dr. Wilton Littlechild, IPC

American Indian Airwaves: Mount Tenabo and Navajo uranium mining

02/04/09, Wednesday, on American Indian Airwaves

"Mt. Tenabo Revisited and Energy Policy Opens Up more Indigenous Lands for Uranium Mining"

Part 1: Julie Fischel, Western Shoshone Defense Project ( http://www.wsdp.org), joins us for the first segment of today's show to discuss the federal decision denying the preliminary injunction to halt Barrack Gold Company, the worlds largest gold mining company, Cortez Hills Expansion Project within the Western Shoshone Nation and at the base of the sacred site Mount Tenabo. The project, was recently approved by the Bureau of Land Management, and will be the largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States, Julie discuss the judicial, cultural , and political parameters of this setback and what the next step is in the struggle to protect the Western Shoshone Nation.

Part 2:Anna Rondon (Dine' Nation), indigenous activist, Member of Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum, and main organizer of the Indigenous World Uranium Summit, joins us for this segment of the show to discuss former President Bush's executive orders initiated prior to his second presidential term concluding and how they allow for more uranium mining within indigenous nations in the southwest, and, ultimately, the construction of more nuclear power plants as part of the dominant society's archaic and draconian energy policies. Anna also discusses what the ramifications potentially are for indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations, and what the new administration's agenda is for (new) energy sources.

American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Wednesday from 3pm to 4pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angles, FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, and by Internet with Real Media Player, Winamp, & Itunes at http :// www.kpfk.org , and American Indian Airwaves now broadcast every Saturday from 3pm to 4pm (ECT) on WCRS 98.3/102.1 in Columbus, OH. Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aiairwaves
SPECIAL NOTICE: weekly shows can now be heard on the KPFK web site ( http://www.kpfk.org ) under "audio archives" located on the left. Scroll down and click on American Indian Airwaves.

Peltier attacked at Canaan and returns to Lewisburg as a hero

Peltier writes from prison, with message from Ben Carnes

By Ben Carnes
To my friends, families and allies:
The following is a recently released statement from Leonard Peltier that I hope you will circulate widely. Also please subscribe to the listserve to get immediate updates and encourage your friends.
I also want to ask you if you would consider helping me with doing research on the Internet in regards to Peltier. There is a lot of information that we need to collect: Leonard's past statements, media and celebrity contacts, county/state/federal officials who have expressed support for Peltier and how to contact them.
If you are willing to help me with this, please reply and I’ll place you in a group so that everyone can get more done quickly and I’ll wade through the information.
We are approaching a critical point in Leonard's campaign, and we will need massive support from around the world. So any volunteer help is going to appreciated. We have a website under construction, and we would want everyone to know when we change over. Also, there is an important event (Feb. 6th) in Boulder,CO for Peltier on the 33rd year of his capture in Canada. Chief Leonard Crow Dog and LP DOC members, Betty Ann Peltier-Solano, Kari Ann Cowan (Leonards sister & niece, respectively), David Hill and myself. The Leonard Peltier Branch Support in Boulder, along with other student organizations is hosting this event.
There is also a noon rally at the courthouse, followed by a meeting for committee members to finalize the presentation of their strategy to free Leonard. This is it and we will need EVERYONE to help us. I believe that once you see the pattern and focus of our strategy, you will see the importance in joining a “Final Offensive” in this 33 year long campaign. Hope to hear from many of you. In the Spirit of freedom, Ben Carnes
LP-DOC bcarnes@whoisleonardpeltier.info
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STATEMENT FROM PELTIER: A Hero’s welcome (1/31/2009)
By Leonard Peltier

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need, you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express.
My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
Do I sound a little angry? Well, I am angry that many of my friends have died in assuring my survival while I’ve been in prison. All the men who were involved in my escape at Lompoc, all died mysteriously soon after: Dallas Thundershield at Lompoc, Bobby Garcia at Terre Haute, and Rocky Duenas, whose body was never recovered. And Standing Deer, he gave away his life when he revealed the assassination plot against me. He lived under the shadow of death for years, waiting to be killed for defying the government, until he was eventually paroled to Texas. He was murdered soon after the same person who contracted him to have me assassinated warned him about his involvement with my campaign. Surviving this attack brought back memories of those losses, and it is with tears of more gratitude in my eyes and in my heart that no one died this time. I don’t ever want to lose another brother in protecting me; a human life is precious and important.
I know in other countries, prisoners who have been held by their government have been placed in house arrest after they have attained international support as I have. If the BOP cannot guarantee my safety to the extent the prisoners here can, then I demand to be returned to my nation, Turtle Mountain, where I can be assured of my safety!
Turtle Mountain has issued a resolution to transfer me into their custody, and they have asked to meet with Obama on a nation-to-nation basis. This has to happen and it will when a lot of energy is placed behind it. In the past 18 days your efforts brought me out of the hole and to where there is a measure of safety.
The FBI has said that I will never leave prison alive, and we should not accept that as an idle threat. There have been a few times that my life was targeted by the FBI in the 33 years since my capture, and each of those who have helped me to survive are now dead. The transfer and attack at Canaan is just a warning to me of what is to come. The warden’s know of the psychological make-up of their inmate population in their prison, and they clearly knew that placing someone who is well known, as I am, with connections to many famous people and at my age, I would be subject to predatory attacks. This was deliberate by the BOP, and as far as the motivation for the attack, it could have been ordered by any prison official at the request of the FBI, or someone trying to curry favor from the feds. It could have also been a tactic to beat me into submission for purposes of extortion or something as stupid as trying to make a reputation.
We know they are afraid and Trimbach’s smear letter support that. They see pressure, in the form of your letters and calls, growing and they know that my committee has been tirelessly developing plans to set up a wave of activity. The FBI is now afraid that they will fail to keep me falsely imprisoned. We are becoming stronger and we must keep building our network to succeed.
I am proud of the brother’s & sisters, the Elder’s and my family who make up the committee; they have all personally sacrificed more than many people may ever know. It is humbling when I hear about the difficulties they have had due to being associated with me, but they do not quit. They are putting in many hours of their lives that they could be spending with their own families, but I hear they are on the phones talking to people, writing letters, and networking through the computers. They have been criticized by a few people and have attempted to create divisions within the committee through spreading accusations about them. So let me say this, I know the people I have invited to serve on my committee, and I’ve known most of them for years. A couple of them are my Sun Dance brothers and I have entrusted my life in their abilities and their commitment to bring about my freedom. The decision I have made to place them in their positions of responsibility is mine, not the critics. I ask all my supporters to ignore those who would have you waste your time listening to or reading petty gossip based upon jealousy or personal dislike. These are activities that the FBI uses to destroy a movement, and they are not the Indian way of doing things. So we need to be aware that those who are bad-mouthing my committee, and talking behind their backs to smear them, may be infiltrators sent by the feds to tear down the committee. Watch out for those people and make some distance from them.
I am also asking all of my supporters and allies to follow the directions of the committee when the plans and strategies are presented at the Feb. 6th event in Boulder, CO. It had begun as an educational event and now it will be a very important event because of everything that has happened recently. We had wanted to release it when Obama was sworn in, but my transfer placed it on hold. I am a believer that nothing happens by accident or coincidence. It all happens for a reason, and it feels as if things are coming together the way they should. It is significant that an intense campaign will be begin after 33 years in captivity and with a newly elected President who could be receptive to my clemency appeal in office.
We will be making our message stronger in what we do and in how we will do it. I cannot stress how important it will be to increase our numbers after this event because the committee members, spokespersons, and their families will be making more personal sacrifices to help increase awareness. They’ll need your support in organizing other events and networking in your area.
Again, I want to thank everyone who wrote, called and emailed. My hand in appreciation is extended to those who have held rallies and protests on my behalf to call attention to the attack on me. I also extend my gratitude to Cynthia McKinney, former congresswoman for her recent letter to President Obama urging him to free other political prisoners and myself.
In all these years, there have been so many people who have prayed for my safety and freedom from all faiths. There is power in those prayers and that is what I know will bring about my freedom. I can feel something different this time, and many others have expressed the same thought to me. So when you pray, don’t pray only for me, but the warriors of AIM who have died for our people, the victims of the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge, and other victims who has suffered as we have. Pray for their families as well. They must not be forgotten and they must have justice!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Dallas Thundershield, Bobby Garcia, Rocky Duenas, Standing Deer, and in The Spirit of Total Resistance,

Leonard Peltier

Tohono O'odham in poverty ask, 'Where are the casino millions going?'

Tohono O'odham living in the most desperate poverty ask: 'Where are the casino millions going?'

Tohono O'odham youths, pushed to the breaking point by the US military and Tohono O'odham police, too often have to choose between jail, hunger and leaving their homeland

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Every week, Tohono O'odham friends call and say they have no money, no money for food, no money to heat their homes at night and no money for their elderly parents.
Every week, Tohono O'odham friends ask where are the millions going from the Tohono O'odham casinos. The crowds overflow at the Tohono O'odham's Desert Diamond Casino on the edge of Tucson, while the Tohono O'odham people continue to live in the most desperate poverty. It only takes a drive across Tohono O'odham land to see what is happening and what is not happening, in regards to poverty.
Now, a new $550 million casino is in the plans:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/biz-topheadlines/278119.php
Where are the millions going? The Tohono O'odham Legislative Council has long been able to oppress its people with the heavy arm of Homeland Security, the National Guard and Tohono O'odham police.
Now, the militarization is worse. Tohono O'odham are stopped constantly without provocation and threatened and intimidated by US military, Border Patrol, federal agents and Tohono O'odham police.
Tohono O'odham youths, pushed to the breaking point by the US militarization and police, too often have to choose between jail, hunger and leaving their homeland.
The Tohono O'odham Council does not allow outside reporters into its chambers for council sessions. In northern Arizona, the Navajo Nation Council welcomes press and even provides copies of resolutions. That does not happen in the Tohono O'odham Council chambers. Outside reporters are told to leave. The best that reporters can hope for when asking questions is to have their lives threatened for asking questions.
With no accountability, the Tohono O'odham people say this crime against humanity continues.