The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was passed in 2007. It outlines the various human rights held by indigenous peoples and was supported by 143 countries in the UN general assembly. Although initially voting against its adoption, the United States eventually lent its support to the document in 2010 under the Obama administration. If you were to solely apply UNDRIP in these cases, Native communities would not necessarily need to rely on outside organizations. Article 19 of the UNDRIP articulates this idea, stating,
“States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.”
In most of the cases raised against the BLM, their authorizations are made before EAs are fully assessed. Implementing Article 19 would require the BLM to work closer with surrounding Native nations in reaching an agreement before, rather than after, they approve a drilling project. Along with including Native nations during the authorization process, a few articles in the UNDRIP share the importance of preserving cultures for future generations. This directly applies to Nine Mile Canyon, and is stated in Article 25,
“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.”
There are multiple articles within the UNDRIP that outline similar ideas, but these are two that directly apply to Nine Mile Canyon cases. Looking back on previous cases, it would be valuable to revisit the 2004 and 2005 cases via the lens of the UNDRIP, and determine whether the original lawsuit against the Department of the Interior would have succeeded and whether the 2005 800-well project would have been approved.
