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. Conflict in the Black Hills could utilize UNDRIP to its full power. Many articles apply in the case of Bear Butte, so here are a few.
Article 12.1: Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains. One primary area of article 12 that could be used in the defense of Bear Butte is the “access in privacy to their religious…sites” right. Argued well, privacy could extend to noise pollution from nearby bars as well as the influx of tourists.
Article 19: 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. Some may argue that this article was honored by holding town halls on Sturgis development, but Native American advocacy for a buffer zone between development and Bear Butte has not been honored.1“Bill to create buffer zone around Bear Butte killed,” Indianz, February 1, 2006, https://www.indianz.com/News/2006/012296.asp.
Article 26: (1) Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. (2) Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. (3) States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned. This article directly addresses the fact that the Lakota have a traditional and legal claim to Bear Butte. Under this article and holding that the Lakota reject the federal government’s payment for their land, the Lakota should have the right to decide what occurs on and around Bear Butte.
Article 37.1: Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with States or their successors and to have States honour and respect such treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements. Finally, this article reiterates the importance of treaties between the U.S. and Native American nations that the Lakota uphold and seek enforcement of instead of the monetary compensation the federal government seeks to give, while still occupying Lakota land.
