Mt. Rushmore land should be returned to Native American tribes, UN official says

[It does not ultimately matter whether some UN report states that the United States has done wrong by indigenous peoples in North America. The United States and UN will both ignore the report for the most part. Nonetheless, it just goes to show how hypocritical both the United States is and international law. The United States calls on the UN to enforce international law, and international law is enforced, almost only when it favors the United States and other imperialists. There is no real international law. Poor peoples of the Third World have no justice. — NP]

Mt. Rushmore land should be returned to Native American tribes, UN official says

(Source: The Upshot)

The four granite faces of American presidents on Mt. Rushmore could be on land that is returned to native tribes. At least, that is one of the recommendations from a United Nations Commission that some of Native American tribal lands be restored, including  the Black Hills of South Dakota, home to Mt. Rushmore.

James Anaya, a U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, completed a fact-finding mission that will include the Black Hills suggestion as part of his assessment of the U.S. compliance with the  Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

According to the Associated Press:

“The Black Hills, home to Mount Rushmore, are public land but are considered sacred by the Sioux tribes. The Sioux have refused to accept money awarded in a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision and have sought return of the land. The Black Hills and other lands were set aside for the Sioux in an 1868 treaty. But Congress passed a law in 1877 taking the land.

President Barack Obama endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010, reversing a previous U.S. vote against it. It is intended to protect the rights of 370 million native peoples worldwide. Anaya is the first U.N. special rapporteur on rights of the indigenous to visit the U.S.”

Anaya said the report will likely be delivered to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council in September.