A/HRC/21/47/Add.1
lost faith in law enforcement and justice systems in Indian Country; mistreatment of Indians
in state and federal courts; need to implement United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples as a means to end discrimination.
60.
Muscogee (Creek) Nation representative: Unequal treatment in economic for
opportunities inhibits economic development, which is connected to social, political and
legal issues for Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
61.
Cherokee Nation representative: Tribal courts are not afforded the same respect as
federal and state courts; tribal court judges and justices are viewed and treated with less
esteem than their federal and state counterparts.
62.
Executive Director Choctaw/Cherokee: Federal recognition is a flawed and arbitrary
process with the primary objective being forced assimilation.
63.
Chickasaw Nation Department of Justice: Compacting with the United States as one
of the original “demonstration” tribes with Indian Health Services proved to be a positive
and empowering experience in self-governance; recent challenges to tribal self governance
by federal and state agencies; protection of natural resources; and litigation connected to
water rights agreements.
64.
Euchee (Yuchi) Tribe: Tribe is not federally recognized but is trying to gain federal
recognition, which it sees as critical to its self-determination.
65.
Principal Chief Cherokee Nation: Department of the Interior adoption of a tribal
consultation policy; resolution of longstanding breach of Indian Trust lawsuits; national
criminal justice training program; preservation and revitalization of native languages;
ongoing problems, including violence against indigenous women.
66.
Prairie Band Potawatomi: State taxation of Native American veterans domiciled in
Indian Country violates the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940.
67.
Descendants of the Sand Creek Massacre: Call for the United States Government to
make reparations in connection to the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre near Fort Lyon,
Colorado.
68.
Gregory Bigler (Tribal Court Judge): Lack of jurisdiction over non-Indians;
jurisdiction questions over activities within the Tribes’/Nations’ territory; inability to craft
solutions for some criminal and certain juvenile cases due to limited resources.
69.
Walter R. Echo-Hawk (Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of the Kickapoo Tribe
of Oklahoma; Justice of the Supreme Court of the Pawnee Nation): Discusses multiple
aspects of federal Indian law and policy that require strengthening or could benefit from
reform in light of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
70.
Haskell Indian Nations University Student Senate: Chronic underfunding
undermines Native American education and institutions; call for improved federal support
for Native American education.
71.
Wetlands Preservation Organization: Development threatens the Wakarusa
Wetlands; forced relocation of plants and animals creates an environmental and social
threat.
72.
Ponca Tribe Business Committee: Pollutants from the Continental Carbon Company
facility in Ponca City, Oklahoma continued to interfere, with the Ponca peoples’ health and
the use of their property.
73.
National Indian Youth Council (Dr. Kay McGowan): Governments, including the
United States, that have systematically used boarding school programmes to diminish their
41