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03/25/2006:

"EXORCISING COLONIAL DEMONS – HOW THE U.S. LOST TO THE WESTERN SHOSHONE AT THE U.N."

On March 10, 2006, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that the United States was denying the Western Shoshone people “their rights to own, develop, control and use their land and resources”. They warned the U.S. to respect their obligations according to the Convention”. The U. S. was urged to "freeze", "desist" and "stop" their actions against the Western Shoshone and abide by the Committee's “Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure”.

The Western Shoshone land base covers approximately 60 million acres, stretching across the states of Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. Their land rights were entrenched in the 1868 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The U.S. used a procedure similar to that of the Canadian and Ontario governments when they turned land belonging to the Stoney Point people at Ipperwash into a park. The U.S. declared the Western Shoshone lands had become "public" or federal lands in violation of the treaty.

The U.S. uses Western Shoshone land for military testing, open pit cyanide heap leach gold mining and nuclear waste disposal planning. They have used military style seizures of Shoshone livestock, trespass fines in the millions of dollars and ongoing armed surveillance of Western Shoshone who assert their original and treaty rights. When the Western Shoshone questioned their actions, they were denied “fair access” to the U.S. courts. The U.S. courts represent the United States, one of the adversaries in the conflict. So the Western Shoshone took their case to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This became the neutral tribunal required under international law.

In 2001 the Committee had already expressed alarm that U.S. laws and treatment of indigenous peoples continue to be based on the outdated, colonial era "doctrine of discovery." The Committee’s decision is a direct negation of the colonial process.
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