A/HRC/21/47/Add.1 cut, were forced to wear uniforms and were punished for speaking their languages or practising their traditions. The compounded effect of generations of indigenous people, including generations still living, having passed through these schools cuts deep in indigenous communities throughout the United States, where social problems such as alcoholism and sexual abuse are now pervasive and loss of language is widespread. 47. Additionally, a pattern of placing indigenous children in non-indigenous care under state custody proceedings, with similar effects on indigenous individuals and communities, continued until well into the 1970s, only to be blunted by passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, federal legislation that advances a strong presumption of indigenous custody for indigenous children but that continues to face barriers to its implementation. F. Open wounds of historical events 48. The open wounds left by historical events are plentiful, alive in intergenerational memory if not experience. The Special Rapporteur heard emotional testimony from a direct descendant of victims of one of the most well-known atrocities committed against Native Americans, the massacre at Sand Creek in 1864. Scores of Cheyenne and Arapaho were attacked by surprise and massacred by some 700 armed United States troops. Previously, the tribes had signed a treaty with the United States, under which they willingly gave up their arms and flew a flag of truce at the Sand Creek camp. No action was ever taken against those responsible for the massacre and, despite the promises made in a later treaty of reparations for the descendants of the victims at Sand Creek, none has yet been made. 49. A more recent incident that continues to spark feelings of injustice among indigenous peoples around the United States is the well-known case of Leonard Peltier, an activist and leader in the American Indian Movement, who was convicted in 1977 following the deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a clash on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. After a trial that has been criticized by many as involving numerous due process problems, Mr. Peltier was sentenced to two life sentences for murder, and has been denied parole on various occasions. Pleas for presidential consideration of clemency by notable individuals and institutions have not borne fruit. This further depletes the already diminished faith in the criminal justice system felt by many indigenous peoples throughout the country. G. Self-government 50. Many indigenous representatives in all the locations visited by the Special Rapporteur stressed the importance to the health and well-being of their peoples of securing and recovering the various expressions and practices of their cultures, including indigenous languages, and of being able to transmit their cultures and identities to future generations, along with securing ties to land and natural resources and enhancing self-government capacity. 51. As noted in paragraphs 25-29 and in appendix I, several government programmes are in place to address the concerns of indigenous peoples and to provide them substantial assistance. Indigenous leaders stressed to the Special Rapporteur, however, that the solution lies fundamentally in further strengthening indigenous peoples’ ability to develop and implement their own programmes for economic development and job creation, education, preservation and development of cultural expressions and knowledge, and public order, including the protection of indigenous women and children. 52. Yet, the government policy of indigenous self-determination in place for several decades has not abated problematic restrictions that have been imposed on indigenous 13