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Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:48:20 +0100 (MET)
To: <<clipped>>
From: Ria Verjauw <rverjauw@mail.dma.be>
Subject: BM resolution EP - press-release
 

Please spread the news
))))))))))))))))))))))

Press-report  - February 2000

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SUMMONS:
"STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OF DINEH (Navajo)"
------------------------------------------------------------
During the plenary sessions in Strassbourg from 14 till 18 February 2000,
the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT adopted the URGENCY RESOLUTION,

'against the forced relocation, the ongoing violations of human, religious
and land rights of the Dineh at 'Big Mountain' and raised the concerns of
the European Parliament members about the contaminated 'New Lands'.

After two months of intensive political lobby-work, the proposed resolution
was introduced in accordance with article 50 of the regulations within the
European Parliament.

The Belgian European Parliament members:
-PATSY SORENSEN (for the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance)
-DIRK STERCKX (for the Group of European Liberals, Democrat and Reform Party)
-KATHLEEN VAN BREMPT (for the Group of the Party of European Socialist)
-JOHAN VAN HECKE (for the Group of the European People's Party, Christian
Democrats and European Democrats)
and
the members of 'COSSUTTA EN VINCI' (for the Confederal Group of the European
United Left/ Nordic Green Left)

made a great effort to get the resolution on the agenda of the plenary
session of February in Strassbourg.
The co-ordinators of the plenary sessions had no choice, the urgency
resolution had to be on the agenda because the majority of the European
political groups backed the issue, although the urgencies on the agenda are
limited to 5 a month.

Thanks to the united work of the members of the different political groups,
the resolution got introduced as Urgency Resolution : B5-0152, 0157, 0163,
0171 and 0174/2000.

ON THE 17TH FEBRUARY: THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTED THE RESOLUTION.

The European Parliament also calls the 'Delegation for relations with the
US' (within the European Parliament)  to discuss at its next meeting:  the
Dineh and Hopi people's human rights, development, cultural and religious
rights and their treatment by the US government.

A new step  in the right direction, has been taken .
All over the world the same standards and measures against violations of
human rights, should  be taken, no other interests may play a part in both:
taking a clear stand and in acting, with non-violent means, against
violations of human, religious and land rights."
Europe raised a clear voice in the case of the Dineh.

All supportive fractions of the European Parliament spoke in favor of the
Dineh during the sessions in Strassbourg.

Patsy Sörensen stated in her speech: "It is high time that the rights of the
Native Peoples in the US are respected. The Dineh People had no voice in the
whole issue of Big Mountain."

Dirk Sterckx: "It is the role of the European Parliament to protect
threatened people like the Dineh, the relocation has to be stopped."

Kathleen Van Brempt: "In our resolution we ask the US government to stop
teasing the Dineh people, to stop the relocation and to give back their
rights, their land and dignity".

Johan Van Hecke: "It seems that the US leaders did not learn of the
criticism on their treatment of the Natives and other Indigenous Peoples,
and we should  admit, the European responsibility is not less important".
-----
for FOR MOTHER EARTH BELGIUM - Working group on Indigenous Peoples issues
Ria Verjauw and Marieke Van Coppenolle
<ria@motherearth.org>
---------------------------------------------------------

TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION
As adopted by the European Parliament on 17 February 2000
_________________________________________________________

Native Americans in the US - Dineh / B5-0152, 0157, 0163, 0171 and 0174/2000
------------------------------------------------------------

The European Parliament,

-       recalling the provisions on rights of indigenous peoples contained in the
Vienna Declaration adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights stressing
the need to protect the economic, social and cultural well-being of
indigenous peoples including their distinct identities and cultures,

-       having regard to its resolutions on the rights of indigenous peoples, in
particular that of 9 February 1994  and 19 January 1995 ,

-       recalling the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as
well as the principles of Agenda 21 and the Convention on Biological Diversity,

-       having regard to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 36/55 -
Declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and of
discrimination based on religion or belief,

-       having regard to Resolutions 1989/97 and 1990/34 of the UN Sub-commission
on prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities on the
"Relocation of Hopi and Navajo families",
                               ~~~~~~~
A.      mindful of the Dineh people who reside in the Hopi Partition Lands (HPL)
in the United States and are facing eviction through the implementation of
the Relocation Act (Public Law 93-531), obliging them to sign the
Accommodation Agreement,

B.      aware of the fact that the US Government will start the relocation
process very soon,

C.      concerned that the recent Public Law 104-301 and its Accommodation
Agreement will mean the Dineh (Navajo) families in the Black Mesa region
being forced to abandon their land, given the denial of sufficient
livestock, thereby threatening the Dineh's cultural and socio-economic
survival, confiscation of firewood causing families severe hardship,
especially in winter, and the withdrawal of rights regarding water, hunting
and medicinal gatherings,

D.      aware of the fact that Dineh families residing in HPL live near the
Peabody Coal Company coal mining lease areas on Black Mesa, which the Bureau
of Indian Affairs granted water rights to the Navajo aquifer, the sole water
source of the Dineh and Hopi, whose wells are rapidly drying up, thereby
threatening their spiritual and religious existence,

E.      considering the fact that on Black Mesa there are 10,000 sites of special
significance for the cultural heritage of the Dineh people,

F.      aware of the fact that 94 million gallons of water contaminated with
uranium mining waste broke through a United Nuclear Corporation storage dam
on 16 July 1979, pouring into the Puerto river in New Mexico and the Little
Colorado river where Dineh families from HPL had been evicted to
contaminated radioactive areas along the Little Colorado river's so-called
New Lands,

G.      concerned about the health of the Dineh families living in the vicinity
of existing mining facilities on Black Mesa and those who relocated to the
New Lands,

1.      Calls on the US Government's law-enforcement officers to halt all
harassment of Dineh families resisting relocation;

2.      Calls on the US Government to respect the land rights of the Dineh people
as well as the provisions for indigenous peoples of the Vienna Declaration;

3.      Calls on the US Government not to proceed with the Accommodation
Agreement  until the US Congress mandates formal congressional hearings to
re-assess the impact of mining in the region;

4.      Calls on the US authorities to organise integration programmes for the
Dineh people who have been relocated;

5.      Calls on its delegation for relations with the United States to discuss,
at its next meeting, the Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi people's human rights,
development, cultural and religious rights and their treatment by the United
States;

6.      Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the US Government, the US Congress, the Navajo and Hopi Tribal
Councils and the Governor of the State of Arizona.

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