As adopted by the European Parliament on 17 February 2000

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

European Parliament resolution on native Americans in the US - Dineh

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.