Carrie Garrow has published “Following Deskaheh’s Legacy: Reclaiming the Cayuga Indian Nation’s Land Rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights” in the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. Here is the intro:
Deskaheh, Chief of the Younger Bear Clan of the Cayuga Nation in the 1920s, prepared the path for international recognition of Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) sovereignty and human rights. An eloquent orator and resolute leader, he spent many years advocating for international recognition of Haudenosaunee sovereignty and treaty violations by Canada. In 1921, as Speaker of the Six Nations Council, he traveled on a passport issued by his nation to seek British aid to halt Canada’s attempt to overthrow the traditional form of government and impose an elected band council. Despite failing to convince the British to intervene and protect the treaty they had signed with the Six Nations living in Grand River, Deskaheh returned to Europe in 1923. He traveled to Geneva to “bring his peoples’ case before the League of Nations.” While he fought to receive permission to appear before the League, the Canadian government, in violation of Haudenosaunee sovereignty and treaties, announced a “free election” under armed guard of twenty Canadian police at Grand River to determine whether or not the Six Nations Government of Grand River Land should be dissolved. Meanwhile back in Geneva, Deskaheh was denied permission to appear before the League’s plenary session, despite the Netherlands and Albania’s support of his petition. Determined to educate the world about the violation of his people’s rights, Deskaheh presented his nation’s case at a press conference attended by many nations and “[w]hen he finished, there was a moment of silence–then the roar of a tremendous ovation. Thousands rose to their feet to cheer him and the great hall echoed and re-echoed with their applause.” At the end of 1924, Deskaheh returned to the United States, an exile from Canada unable to cross the border. Although Deskaheh thought himself a failure, “he found that the people for whom he had fought did not think him a failure. From their northern homes in Grand River Land, they journeyed here to see him and assure him of their loyalty.”
Almost 85 years later, Deskaheh is still a legendary leader for the Haudenosaunee people. The time has come to follow his path and return to the international forum to seek redress for the violation of Haudenosaunee human rights. Specifically, the Cayuga Nation, who was stripped of its damages award for its loss of land by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Cayuga Indian Nation, must follow Deskaheh’s example and bring its case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This article argues that similar to Mary and Carrie Dann, two Western Shoshone sisters, the Cayuga Nation can be successful in seeking recognition of its land rights before the Commission. Part I examines the Cayuga Indian Nation land claims case and the impact of City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation. Part II focuses on international law, its evolvement from states’ rights to human rights and its inclusion of indigenous peoples’ human rights. The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, specifically Dann v. United States, is examined to understand the scope of indigenous peoples’ human rights, particularly how these human rights encompass the right to ancestral territory and the right of compensation for the loss of this territory. Part III addresses the Cayuga Nation’s case and the arguments upon which they could succeed before the Commission. It is through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the Cayuga Nation can claim the international recognition of its sovereignty and the violation of its human rights that Deskaheh sought for many years.
Turtle Talk 