On Friday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Yankton Sioux Tribe filed an official complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the “serious and urgent risks of irreparable harm” posed both by the construction of the pipeline and the recent attacks by state police.
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Later the same day U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Justice Department would send monitors to North Dakota in an effort to “reduce tensions and foster dialogue.”
The Tribes’ 345-page filing called on the Commission to demand that the U.S. government take precautionary measures to prevent “ongoing and escalating violence and harassment of peaceful protesters by state and local police forces, and private security guards.”
“Endangering human and water security is a violation of international human rights. Our treaties are international law and are entitled to respect as such. Beyond that, we are constantly under corporate attack on our cultural and natural resources and spiritual lifeways. We are being robbed of treaty lands and it must be stopped,” wrote Faith Spotted Eagle, Chair of the Ihanktonwan Treaty Steering Committee.
The statement raised concerns about grave human rights violations at the historic gathering of Indigenous tribes to prevent the construction of the multi-billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline. The statement highlighted the “continued failure of the United States to ensure the safety of the protesters” as well as the Obama administration’s failure to protect “the Tribes’ and others’ rights to life, liberty and personal security, health, peaceable assembly, association, and protection from arbitrary arrest.”
The IACHR is an independent body of the Organization of American States whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere.
Hours after the filing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch finally responded to multiple calls on the Justice Department to intervene to stop attacks on water protectors by state law enforcement. In a videotaped statement released on the Justice Department Facebook page, she said she was “closely monitoring” the situation at Standing Rock and that she expected “everyone involved to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence and to express their views peacefully.” She added that she has offered “community policing resources to local law enforcement in North Dakota.”
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Many immediately condemned Lynch’s implication that the violence at the Oceti Sakowin camp was in any way caused by the unarmed peaceful protesters, and denounced her expressed concern for the safety of law enforcement.
“If she was monitoring the situation, then why didn't she save that poor woman from losing her arm? Why didn't she stop the horrible oppression?” wrote one commenter. Another wrote, “So DOJ and President are aware of the ND police violating human, civil, religious and constitutional rights of unarmed American Indians and their allies peacefully standing up for clean water. Absolutely disgraceful!”
The Tribes have not yet officially responded to Lynch’s announcement.