December 8, 2022

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Diné and other Indigenous communities affected by uranium development took an important step on December 8, 2022, when they, with Law Center assistance, filed a request for a thematic hearing with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to present testimony about the ongoing human rights violations associated with uranium development.

Thematic hearings address issues with broad human rights implications. If their request for a hearing is granted, our clients and their allies will travel to Los Angles in March 2023 to share their experience with the Inter-American Commission and hold the U.S. government to account for its policies and practices relating to uranium development on Indigenous lands.  

“For too long, the United States government has operated in the shadows with little or no accountability for its role in widespread and ongoing contamination from uranium development in Native communities across the country,” said NMELC Senior Staff Attorney Eric Jantz.

“We hope the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hold a hearing on the human rights abuses Native communities have shouldered under current and historic government policies and practices, so that the United State may finally be forced to reckon with its actions.”

Read the request here.