international law

Ecuadorean Judge Orders Chevron to Pay $9B in Damages for Polluting Lands of Indigenous Peoples

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the permalink to the NYTs article.

An excerpt:

a judge in a tiny courtroom in the Ecuadorean Amazon ruled Monday that the oil giant Chevron was responsible for polluting remote tracts of Ecuadorean jungle and ordered the company to pay more than $9 billion in damages, one of the largest environmental awards ever.

The decision by Judge Nicolás Zambrano in Lago Agrio, a town founded as an oil camp in the 1960s, immediately opened a contentious new stage of appeals in a legal battle that has dragged on in courts in Ecuador and the United States for 17 years, pitting forest tribes and villagers against one of the largest American corporations.

The award against Chevron “is one of the largest judgments ever imposed for environmental contamination in any court,” said David M. Uhlmann, an expert in environmental law at the University of Michigan. “It falls well short of the $20 billion that BP has agreed to pay to compensate victims of the gulf oil spill but is a landmark decision nonetheless. Whether any portion of the claims will be paid by Chevron is less clear.”

Both sides said they would appeal the ruling, setting the stage for months and potentially years more of legal wrangling in the closely watched case, which has already been marked by claims of industrial espionage and fraud, and remarkably bitter disputes among the various lawyers involved. Legal experts said that the size of the award and the attention the case has focused on environmental degradation were likely to encourage similar suits.

The 188-page ruling found Chevron responsible for damages of about $8.6 billion, and perhaps double that amount if Chevron fails to publicly apologize for its actions within 15 days. The judge also ordered Chevron to pay $860 million, or 10 percent of the damages, to the Amazon Defense Coalition, the group formed to represent the plaintiffs.

 

 

COMMENTARY: Restoring Respect For the First Women of this Land

Kirsten Matoy Carlson1 Comment

by Terri Henry*

Terri Henry is Councilwoman for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and co-chair of the National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women.

CHEROKEE, N.C. — It was with great honor that my nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, hosted the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Ms. Rashida Manjoo.  Her visit to Cherokee was spurred by the concern that American Indian and Alaska Native women are victimized at more than double the rate of violence of any other population of women in the United States.  Fortunately, there is a growing global awareness of the voices of Native women calling for safety and justice.

With great pride we welcomed Ms. Manjoo to the Qualla Boundary to listen to our community: people that respond to the medical needs, to the 911 calls, those that investigate and prosecute, and to the Cherokee Court where women seek justice in the hope that the violence will end.  While Cherokee does not have a perfect response to these crimes we are outraged by the rape or beating of any woman, and we are committed to increasing the safety of all women who reside within our tribal community.  Most importantly we understand Cherokee women have the right as citizens of the Eastern Band to the protection of their government. Continue reading →

UN Special Rapporteur Investigates Epidemic of Violence Against Indian Women in the United States

Kirsten Matoy Carlson2 Comments

CHEROKEE, N.C. — At 64 years-old, Matilda Black Bear, better known as Tillie, refers to herself as a “classic case” in regards to her story of domestic violence. She was 26 years old when she entered into a relationship that turned violent. She knew after the first week that she had to get out, but it took her three years to leave.

Photo of Matilda "Tillie" Black Bear
Tillie Black Bear is Public Outreach Coordinator with the Sacred Circle National Resource Center and a long-time advocate for women's rights.

“In the ’70s there were no services for victims, let alone any laws to hold perpetrators accountable,” recalls Tillie. “I went to the police and to the judges and they didn’t know what to do with me.”
According to U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, not much has changed in nearly 40 years. Tillie’s story is shared by thousands of Native women in the United States. One out of three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, and three out of four will be physically assaulted.

These staggering statistics were presented, along with a plea for help, to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Ms. Rashida Manjoo. Manjoo visited the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina on Jan. 28-29, 2011. Continue reading →

Blake Watson on the Doctrine of Discovery

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the article, published in the Seattle University Law Review.

UN Expert to visit Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to study the epidemic of violence against Native women in the United States

Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Press Release from Indian Law Resource Center and the Easter Band of Cherokee Indians:

January 21, 2011

CHEROKEE, N.C. — A United Nations expert on women’s human rights is investigating why Native women face the highest rates of sexual and physical assault of any group in the United States.

Ms. Rashida Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, will visit the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina on January 27-28, 2011. Manjoo will meet with tribal leaders and advocacy organizations to learn more about the epidemic of violence against Indian women and what the United States can do to safeguard the human rights of Indian women.

According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, one out of three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, and three out of four will be physically assaulted. Indian women are stalked at a rate more than double that of any other population. These statistics are linked to legal barriers that prevent Indian nations from adequately responding to crimes.

Continue reading →

Official Announcement of U.S. Support for the UNDRIP

Peter Scott Vicaire2 Comments

Here it is.

Thanks to Brent Leonhard for sending this our way!

UN Declaration Sets New Agenda for US-Indian Relations

Kirsten Matoy Carlson4 Comments

Op Ed by Robert T. Coulter

Today, the United States government at last officially endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and joined the international community in recognizing that American Indians and other indigenous peoples have a permanent right to exist as peoples, nations, cultures, and societies.

The United States is the last of the four countries that voted against the UN Declaration in the UN to reverse its position. This endorsement reflects the worldwide acceptance of indigenous peoples and our governments as a permanent part of the world community and the countries where we live. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the most significant development in international human rights law in decades. International human rights law now recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples as peoples, including rights of self-determination, property, and culture.

Continue reading →

Kirsten Carlson Article on U.S. Reconsideration of UNDRIP

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is that article, intended to be an additional supplement to the FBA Indian Law Section Newsletter for Fall 2010.

US Reviewing Its Policy on UNDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Robertson v. Canada – Tax Court of Canada Allows Aboriginal Appeal

Peter Scott Vicaire

Interesting case (as far as tax cases can be) out of the Tax Court of Canada – Robertson v. Canada, [2010] T.C.J. No. 432.  Two Aboriginal appellants from Norway House First Nation were allowed to maintain their tax exemption in light of the “commercial mainstream” test when they sold their catch through their Aboriginal co-op to a non-Aboriginal, commercial entity (Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp.).

“It has been established on the evidence, that taxing the Appellants would be an erosion of an important economic base that goes far beyond the emergence of an income source brought to the reserve by the outside world of commerce. It is a source that was always there and its present connections are not trappings. The connections to the reserve are genuine and historically based. As such, the subject income warrants protection from diminution by taxation.”

R. v. Morris – B.C. Provincial Court Rejects Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Claims as well as Kinship Reciprocity and Sheltering Defenses

Peter Scott Vicaire

Here’s the decision, which provides a useful breakdown of interpreting aboriginal and treaty rights, kinship reciprocity and sheltering defenses.

It’s been a long time coming, with the events in question having occurred during the Winter of 2001/2002 and after the death of one of the defendants.

Continue reading →