In Xinachtli, In Milpa: CICITLALMINA Izkaloteka Matlactli Tochtli Xihuitl

The US government’s claim for jurisdiction over Western Shoshone territory via “gradual encroachment” is based on the legaloid, discriminatory, and repudiated Doctrine of Discovery of Christendom, via Mexico and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). This dimension of the case has not been addressed by CERD. The only territorial franchise that Mexico may have illegally claimed over Shoshone Nation territory at any time is as a successor state in historical consequence to the purported claims of discovery by Spain under the Papal Bulls of Inter Caetera (1493).

And although the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues issued a repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery of Christendom in 2010, the underlying issue of the discrimination and denial of the rights of petition articulated in Article 15 ICERD continues with impunity in the UN decolonization protocols.

This must be corrected.

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Western Shoshone Defense Project

Shadow Report to the

United Nations Committee on The Elimination Of

Racial Discrimination

In Response to The Combined Tenth to Twelfth Periodic Reports Submitted by The United States of America Under Article 9 Of The Convention

And

Early Warning And Urgent Action Procedure Decision 1(68) (Western Shoshone)

Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

Committee member Patrick Thornberry of Great Britain stated surprise that the United States would cite to Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823) and the doctrine of discovery. Mr. Thornberry stated emphatically that the current state of United States law demonstrated basic incompatibility with the Convention. He further stated that the power of treaty abrogation by one side is not fair or right and is inconsistent with the doctrine of indigenous self-determination. He informed the United States delegation that the doctrine of discovery is outdated and the rest of the “enlightened world” had recognized this and was making efforts to reform their laws.

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1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council

Alternative Report to CERD

The Sioux Nation is an Indigenous Nation in the middle of North America. In 1894, after facing near annihilation at the hands of the United States, the Sioux Nation Treaty Council (SNTC) was established to fight for the enforcement of all the Articles in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. The people of the Sioux Nation have endured nearly 150 years of racist treatment from the United States within the Treaty Territory. The 1894 SNTC has been approaching the United Nations for forty years, continuing the quest for liberation and freedom through the enforcement of the 1868 Treaty. The Treaty Council is presenting this Report as the International Covenant on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Article 48/7 of the UN Human Rights Council which was approved in Oct. 2021 advocate for the end of colonization of Indigenous nations.