Indigenous leaders confront U.S. Government over Its uranium exploitation policies at historic IACHR hearing in D.C.

By Buffalo’s Fire, Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

Diné (Navajo), Ute Mountain Ute, Havasupai, Oglala Lakota, and Northern Arapaho Tribal Members Give Powerful & Moving Testimonies on How the NRC, EPA & BIA Violate Tribes’ Human Rights

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Members of five different Native American Indigenous communities provided moving and powerful testimony on the devastating health, environmental and cultural impacts from the uranium industry during a thematic hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Wednesday, February 28, 2024.

The thematic hearing, “Impacts of Uranium Exploitation on the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States,” was held at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., and included testimony from Edith Hood and Teracita Keyanna, Diné (Navajo) tribal members from the Red Water Pond Road Community Association (New Mexico); Anferny Badback and Yolanda Badback, Ute Mountain Ute tribal members from White Mesa Concerned Community (Utah); Carletta Tilousi of the Havasupai Tribal Government (Arizona); Big Wind Carpenter of the Northern Arapaho Tribe (Wyoming); and Tonia Stands (Oglala Lakota), Buffalo Magpie Organizing (South Dakota). Eric Jantz, Legal Director at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, also provided testimony as legal counsel. …