The U.S. government is not expected to abide by any opinion by the commission, which is part of the Organization of American States, a pro-democracy grouping of Western Hemisphere nations.
Many feel crowded on their reduced land. They can’t even fish the territory’s creek because decades of salt mining upstream muddied the waters. The 1788 sale of some 3,125 square miles was agreed to by “wrong-headed people” who were unauthorized Onondaga negotiators, according to a letter to George Washington from the Onondagas and fellow members of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Confederacy.
Heath said this was the first land rights case admitted by the commission from a Native American nation against the U.S., though it hasWhat will the U.S. do if the commission issues an opinion on merits favoring the Onondaga Nation?The U.S. is an influential member of the OAS. But human rights experts note that commission opinions are not considered legally binding to the U.S., which resists having international bodies telling it what to do.
The U.S. has already argued in response to the Onondaga petition that the commission has no business “second-guessing the considered decisions” of domestic courts. “I think a recognition that the human rights of Onondaga and other tribal nations have been violated is a powerful recognition and can be utilized in numerous ways of advocacy, and potentially be used in the courts down the line,” said Matthew Campbell, deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund.
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