Justice and Freedom for Leonard Peltier: Appeal to United Nations Indigenous Forum

                                   Leonard Peltier/Photo by Gloria LaRiva


Statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

22nd Session
April 25, 2023
AIM-West Oral Intervention
Item #4

Each year we are saddened to remind this forum that Mr. Leonard Peltier, Anishinabe and Dakota and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, has been wrongfully incarcerated by the United States since 1976. Leonard Peltier was a leader of the American Indian Movement, a historic civil rights group founded to combat the oppression of Native Americans in the United States.

Foreign Mining Giants Join U.S. to Seize Apaches Sacred Oak Flat in Court

Apache Stronghold at federal court/Photo Apache Stronghold

Foreign mining giants enter the legal fight to seize sacred Native land

Rio Tinto and BHP’s Resolution Copper seek to join forces with the feds to destroy Oak Flat

By Apache Stronghold

April 21, 2023

WASHINGTON – A massive foreign-owned mining corporation has joined forces with the United States government in its ongoing legal battle to destroy Oak Flat, an ancient Apache sacred site in Arizona.In Apache Stronghold v. United States, a coalition of Western Apaches is fighting to stop the federal government from giving Oak Flat to a mining giant that will swallow the site in a nearly two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater—ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch this short video to learn more).

Live Coverage United Nations Indigenous Permanent Forum

Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk addressed UN Indigenous Forum this morning. Screenshot by Censored News

World governments are rushing to defend their human rights records again today -- as the second week of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues  begins in New York

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Monday, April 24, 2023

NEW YORK -- Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk spoke on the extermination policies of California and false solutions for climate change, including genetically-modified organisms for climate change. Native people who are not federally recognized, like the Winnemem Wintu, currently have no rights and no way to ensure their survival in the United States, Chief Sisk told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as the second week began today.

Mongolian Youth Tells United Nations -- China's Cultural Genocide Costing Lives and Language

Mongolian youth describes China's cultural genocide at U.N. Indigenous Permanent Forum.

Mongolian Youth Tells United Nations -- China's Cultural Genocide Costing Lives and Language

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News©

NEW YORK -- A Mongolian youth representative told the United Nations that China's cultural genocide in Mongolia has cost lives, and now the Mongolian language is at risk during the widespread crackdown in the name of 'Chinese supremacy.'

"Eleven Mongolians lost their lives in defense of the rights to their Mother Tongue," she told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Mohawk Mothers Court Statement and Agreement, April 20, 2023

MOHAWK MOTHERS COURT STATEMENT & AGREEMENT APR 20/23

Posted on April 21, 2023

Mohawk Nation News

APRIL 20, 2023. COURT STATEMENT OF KAHNISTENSERA “MOHAWK MOTHERS”, QUEBEC, MONTREAL – #500-17-120468-221

This is a historic Agreement between:

The kanienkehaka kahnistensera of Kahnawake, the Mohawk Mothers, and The Quebec Government, Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, McGill University, City of Montreal, Attorney General of Canada and Attorney General of Quebec.

We followed the great peace which is our way since time immemorial. It is the spirit of these children that is making us seek the truth so that we can more clearly see into the future.    

We came to the Montreal Superior Court with the kaianerekowa to find a way to search for the unmarked graves of our children and families. This is how the kahenkehaka [Mohawk Iroquois] are dealing with the issue of genocide. Our children’s lives were devalued. We are using our natural way, with the women at the helm supported by the men.

There will be justice for all children and families. 

Blackfeet to United Nations -- United States is Greatest Offender of Native Rights

Blackfeet Councilman Marvin Weatherwax speaking at the UN Indigenous Peoples Forum/Image by Censored News

Blackfeet to United Nations -- United States is the Greatest Offender of Native Rights

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

NEW YORK -- Blackfeet Councilman Marvin Weatherwax, Jr., told the United Nations, "Today there is no greater offender to tribal rights than the U.S. Department of Justice which repeatedly fails to protect our tribal communities in egregious violation of the government's treaties and trust duties."

Councilman Weatherwax, chairman of the Coalition of Large Tribes, delivered a powerful address to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The United States has failed to ensure Navajo water rights, plans to put a copper mine in the epicenter of San Carlos Apaches ceremonial place at Oak Flat, and treats Native people with hostility along the Canadian border.

The Department of Justice has taken the position in federal court that the United States bears no responsibility for the rape of a Northern Cheyenne woman in her home by an on-duty federal law enforcement officer.