Sign the petition in support of halting any further US-Mexico border wall construction in Ndé (Lipan Apache) Peoples’ traditional and customary homelands, currently bifurcated by the States of Mexico and the United States.

We demand an end to the deep, inherent violations of the US-Mexico border and its crossing of Nde and Lipan Apache Indigenous territories and homelands, and respect for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

Petition at:
https://www.change.org/p/united-states-us-border-wall-violates-international-law-us-law-violates-lipan-apache-indigenous-rights

The Lipan Apache Women Defense (LAWD) and Dr. Eloisa García Tamez (Lipan Apache Ndé. Lipan Apache Band of Texas), The Lipan Apache Band of Texas, The Apache Nde Nnee Working Group, and the International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE) have submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD), and now make firm, public statements against the alien, colonial domination of the United States-Mexico border and border wall and, therein, the current United States administration’s executive order and any other mandate or effort in further construction of a United States-Mexico border wall in Apache Ndé, and, specifically Lipan Apache, territory/ies.

Border walls do not build a better humanity. Border walls have consistently existed in conjunction with social oppression, violations of human dignity, peace and life, and, in the cases of colonial settler States/countries, acts of violence and violations against Indigenous Peoples and pre-existing peoples and lifeways who have, and continue to survive, border colonialism. The United States-Mexico border wall is in violation of International Law.

Collectively, we have established the cutting edge for understanding of the United States’ border and border wall and its inherent, encompassing violations of Indigenous and Human Rights to, among other things, land, religion, and freedom of expression, culture, family and kinship, movement within one's customary community, speech, identity, access to justice and appropriate juridical procedures, and due process and remedy.
 
This action is in conjunction to the Follow up to Urgent Action/Early Warning re United States Executive Order to further construct a US-Mexico border wall, submitted to the United Nations CERD (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) Committee by Ariel Dulitzky (member of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) and his University of Texas Law Clinic, and in accordance with related previous legal initiatives, as detailed in the sections and links below.

RECENT breaking developments:

21 February 2017. Ariel Dulitzky (member of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) and his University of Texas Law Clinic, under the continuation of previous work with LAWD, sent a request to the UN CERD Committee for review of the current United States administration’s order(s) to undergo renewed border wall construction (See letter here)

27 April 2017. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, founder of LAWD, created a letter to UN CERD in support of Mr. Dulitzky’s initiative, alerting the CERD Committee to official, contextual legal history re the border wall and the Lipan Apache, and brought a supporting call to action on several points. (See letter here)

27 April 2017. The Chair of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Daniel Castro Romero, Jr., created a letter to UN CERD, also affirming Dulitzky and Tamez’s actions, calling on the UN CERD for protection and affirmation of inherent Indigenous Rights. (See letter here)

30 April 2017. The Apache Nde Nnee Working Group, via Dr. Margo Tamez, Lipan Apache Nde, and legal counsel India Reed Bowers, LLM, Founder & Director of IOSDE, wrote in support of the LAWD and Dulitzky actions, affirming Indigenous and Human Rights, contextualizing the situation in historical context and regarding colonialism, and referencing the Apache Nde Nnee Working Group’s 2015 and 2016 Shadow/Alternative Report submissions to UN CERD for the reviews of the Holy See and Spain, therein, and the ties to the current border wall and border as it/they violate Nde Peoples and lands. (See letter here)

1 May 2017. The International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE) submitted the three supporting letters to the UN CERD Committee together as one action of Lipan Apache and Nde self-determination. (See submission here)

5 May 2017. The CERD Secretariat confirmed receipt of the letters.

Now: We anticipate the CERD Committee's formal response in the approaching days/weeks.

Additional information:

The following information consists of excerpts from the LAWD-Apache Nde Nnee Working Group-Lipan Apache Band joint submission to UN CERD, in support of the Follow Up to the Urgent Action/Early Warning regarding the Border Wall and the United States as-submitted by Ariel Dulitzky and Clinic.
 
Background [for sampled, detailed key results from actions below, click here]:

• In 2007, Indigenous women from El Calaboz led a national and international legal challenge to the wall.

 

• In 2008, in partnership with Denise Gilman and the University of Texas School of Law, LAW-Defense participated in a hearing on the Texas-Mexico Border Wall, at the Inter-American Commission/Organization of American States, 133rd Period, held in Washington, D.C.; the Inter-American Commission/OAS supports the claims in the submission. (see key results here).

 

• Dr. Margo Tamez, Co-founder, Lipan Apache Women Defense, Co-Director, Emilio Institute for Indigenous and Human Rights, submits and presents: Kónitsąąíí gokíyaa Ndé: ‘Big Water People’s Homeland’ a shadow of Self-Determination in a bifurcated Traditional Territory; from ‘Strengthening Partnership between States and indigenous peoples: treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements’, Geneva 16-17 July 2012, Organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, HR/GENEVA/ /SEM/NGOs/2012/BP.7 (see key results here)

 

• In 2012, in partnership, with Mr. Dulitzky and the University of Texas (UT) Law Human Rights Clinic, the LAW Defense, in partnership with the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, co-submitted an Early Action/Early Warning (EA/EW) procedure to the UN CERD Committee (See more here).

 

• Based on the submission to CERD above, on March 1, 2013, during the 82nd Session, Alexei Avtonomov, then UN CERD Committee Chair, sent a diplomatic letter to Ms. Betty E. King, then Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations. (see key results here)

 

• Ndee-Nnee Alliance Intervention Statement, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), 12th Session, 20-31 May 2013, New York. (see key points here). Other UNPFII and UN EMRIP statements also made in various sessions and years (available by request).

 

• The Apache Ndé Nneé Working Group submitted the following Shadow and Alternative Reports to the UN CERD Committee for the Committee’s review of the Holy See: The Holy See and European Dispossession of Apache-Ndé-Nnee Peoples: A call for truth, disclosure, justice and redress, Apache-Ndé-Nneé Working Group Shadow Report, UN CERD 88th Session, November 2015: Review of the Holy See, and Spain: Alternative Report for the CERD Review of Spain, submitted by the Apache-Ndé-Nneé Working Group, UN CERD 89th Session, April-May 2016: Review of Spain. ... (see key points here). These Reports address, outline, and explain in detail the historical, legal and political contexts and legacies of the ongoing colonization of the Ndé territories, including regarding the violently militarized colonial line of legal-political-territorial alien domination itself, known as the United States-Mexico border and accompanying border wall. The United States-Mexico border, and the border wall therein, divides Ndé traditional territories, families, and lives and harming Ndé ceremonies, lands, waters, self-determination as well as Ndé Peoples’ rightful independence from colonial and alien domination and rule.

 

• UN CERD calls for the Holy See to become accountable to Indigenous Peoples on key historical and ongoing matters raised in the above submission; see some related news and happenings to follow here: http://iosde.org/3/post/2016/01/united-nations-declares-the-holy-see-legally-responsible-and-accountable-to-indigenous-peoples-for-effects-and-legacy-of-racist-colonial-papal-bulls-and-doctrines.html and http://iosde.org/3/post/2016/02/only-a-truth-commission-will-end-the-abuse-pope-francis-and-the-catholic-church-continue-theft-and-the-rape-of-the-apache-nd-nne-after-un-findings.html

Current requests from Apache Ndé Nneé Working Group to the UN CERD Committee include (See more here):

• Acknowledge the diversity of Ndé-Nneé juridical personality and political-territorial status(es) affected by the United States-Mexico border and border wall […] as a result of intergenerational and on-going racism, discrimination, and aggressive State policies. (Dr. Margo Tamez, Apache-Ndé-Nneé Shadow Report, CERD 88th Session: Holy See, p. 56).

 

• Acknowledge that a United States Government’s policy/mandate-induced expansion of a United States-Mexico border wall, and without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the affected Indigenous Peoples, including the Lipan Apache Band (Ndé), is a continued colonial and genocidal territorial alien domination of the traditional Indigenous Peoples and lands and in direct violation of international law as per the ending of all forms of colonialism (CERD preamble and Art. 15, and associated and applicable UN GA Resolutions and UN initiatives, departments, mechanisms, procedures and treaties), as well as all relevant CERD Treaty articles and analyses as provided by Mr. Ariel Dulitzky and his Clinic’s submission.

Lastly, LAWD has called for the CERD Committee to affirm the Declaration from the El Calaboz 2011 Gathering on Indigenous Knowledge, Lands, Territory and Rights. (see key points here)

Contact info: Apache Nde Nnee Working Group, annwg@iosde.org

Dear IOSDE friends, colleagues and family,

We are releasing a letter that IOSDE's Restorative Justice Expert Associate, Ramon Montano Marquez, has written and sent this past Friday, December 2nd, to President Barack Obama regarding the violations of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Indigenous Peoples and especially indigenous youth, as well as the Water Protectors and others in and affected by the situation of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). He writes from his perspective as a young indigenous man who is a committed educator, youth worker, advocate and restorative justice practitioner in the United States and the communities in which he lives and resides. He is a global advocate for indigenous youth, education and restorative justice.

It has been extremely and especially devastating that the President of the United States has directly used indigenous youth of the United States, including many from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, for his own career, publicity and campaigns, while making false promises and hopes to and for indigenous youth in the United States along the way, not taking a direct and swift stand, in turn and at the same time, as the United States leader, regarding crucial, harmful situations those very same youth have found themselves in, such as mass resource extraction violating their rights, cultures, families, sacredness, and traditions. Such hypocrisy and re-traumatization is unacceptable and in violation of a multitude of human rights and basic, fundamental human ethics.

We hope President Obama will take indigenous leaders and experts, such as Mr. Marquez, and indigenous youth seriously, as he does his own, and that he will participate in fully ending ending and repairing the damages he and the United States have done to Indigenous Peoples, as he promised, protecting the lands, waters, ecosystems and humans lives of all.

Please share Mr. Marquez's letter far and wide. For the downloadable pdf of the letter click here.

Sincerely,
India Reed Bowers, B.A. LL.M.
Founder & Director IOSDE

***

The letter reads as follows:

December 2, 2016

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
United States of America

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Ramon Montano Marquez and I am a young indigenous advocate from the Kickapoo, Kumeyaay and Paipai Tribal Nations, hoping for a better tomorrow for the children of America, and the world. My advocacy and engagements have led me to many great initiatives and to meet many wonderful people from around the world. I work for King-Chavez Neighborhood of Schools here in San Diego, California, as the Restorative Justice Coordinator for our King-Chavez Preparatory Academy.

At my young age of 23 I have accomplished many things, from being appointed to the Youth Panel of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, chaired by the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education Mr. Gordon Brown, to being asked to serve in the Global Campaign for Education – United States Board of Directors, to advising staff of the Global Partnership for Education on their Youth Engagement Strategy, and working with many stakeholders in the Global Education Movement and Educational Equity and Justice here at home, which are all great and wonderful experiences... But my most important role on top of my day-to-day job at King-Chavez is being a voice for my tribal indigenous peoples.

Mr. President, you have visited many tribal nations, been honored by many tribal elders, held our children, promised a better future for our tribal youth, and even created an indigenous youth movement- all promising a better tomorrow. However, promises are not always held to accountability and just become words, something that we indigenous peoples have been used to for hundreds of years. Yet, we continue to strive for equality and a basic understanding of our indigenous human rights. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a declaration that was adopted and mandated in many UN member states for the protection of indigenous peoples around the world, including us, the indigenous peoples of the United States of America. In 2014, the United Nations hosted the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, and I was honored to have attended through sponsorship of the UN. During the General Assembly of the United Nations during the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, a Resolution was adopted which mandated member states to work with indigenous peoples to find a common ground on the UNDRIP. The UNDRIP and the Outcome Document were adopted by the UN General Assembly for the protection of indigenous peoples around the world. At this time, our own US nation has violated the UNDRIP and our human rights, as the first peoples of this lands. What we are witnessing in North Dakota is in huge violation of the rights of indigenous peoples. This new age civil war attacks our way of life and our constitutional rights as American people. The events in Standing Rock are not only Civil Rights Violations; the events are Human Rights Violations.

There are many articles on the UNDRIP I wished to include in my letter to you, President Obama, but there are two main articles that I feel go along with what I am expressing here today. According to the UNDRIP:

Article 7 (1) Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person. (2) Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.

Article 8 (1) Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture. (2) States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for: (a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities; (b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources; (c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights; (d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration; (e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.

I believe in the American dream, but what is happening to my fellow brothers and sisters has proven to me that the US government does not truly recognize the indigenous peoples of this land or our ways of life and prayer. As an involved education advocate who advocates on local, national and international levels for our children I have seen and heard many things... but the most devastating thing happening today is that our American indigenous children are being denied their human rights and the right to clean, accessible water. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a danger to all Americans who depend on water from the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, and all other affected and potentially affected water, waterways, soils and ecosystems. This pipeline violates a series of human rights and civil rights stated in our US Constitution, UNDRIP and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We the American people mourn for the state that our nation is currently in and most importantly for the future of our children. Every day I walk in to hundreds of children who fear for their future, who see the racism in our nation, who don’t understand why our nation is divided. These are the fears of our children. What’s more devastating is seeing the pain within the many who have experienced loss, who continue to fight their constant battles within them, those who have been taken to soon, those who have been forgotten and those who continue to strive for the next seven generations.

President Obama, in 2014 you sparked a new movement within the indigenous youth community that made many youth feel loved, heard, understood and cared for; you made promises to the tribal youth to protect them, to care for them, to understand them. Now the youth wonder where these promises have gone, where this movement of understanding has landed. For years our communities have struggled for common understanding between a new western mentally and our traditional cultural values, and we continue to struggle for that very same thing today. President Obama, I believe that it is never too late to do the right thing; all I can do is hope and pray that this wonderful nation of ours will do what’s right for the protection of our brothers and sisters, water and tribal communities. I urge you, President Obama, to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in its entirety and to demand full protection of the water protectors who continue to fight for equal human rights and for clean water for all people. I thank you for your time and pray that you do the right thing for the American people.

With Love and Respect,

Ramon Montano Marquez
Restorative Justice Expert Associate
International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE)

For downloadable PDF of this statement including photos click here.

On the night of November 20, 2016, over 400 Water Protectors gathered on a bridge near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, United States and were violently dispersed by police forces in the name of the corporate-owned Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The security forces were in riot gear and used water cannons, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas and sound cannons against the Water Protectors, who were weaponless and praying, singing and seeking to create access to and through the bridge in order to ensure connection to a nearby town for supplies, support and health care.

In this horrific incident, police forces indiscriminately aimed water cannons at everyone on the site, and targeted people's heads and legs with their bullets. Tear gas was also used against the Water Protectors.  Around 300 were injured and 26 had to be hospitalized, including one arm amputation case, one for cardiac arrest, and another for seizures. Because of the near-freezing temperature in the area, the water from the cannons used by the police caused early signs of hypothermia. Police also illegally detained 16 protesters one day after the incident.

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, has continued construction of the USD 3.7 billion project despite a request from the US government to temporarily cease construction. The US Army Corps of Engineers, with capacity to implement this request into order, has in fact done nothing to stop ETP from continuing construction. The 1,170-mile pipeline will threaten the water supplies and waterways, and continue to desecrate Native American burial grounds and sacred sites. ETP has already landgrabbed from private US landowners as well as Native Americans in the course of construction. At least 500 activists and supporters have been slapped with trumped-up charges for resisting the project.

The International Indigenous Peoples' Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), and the International Organization for Self Determination and Equality (IOSDE) condemn in the strongest possible terms this violent dispersal of Water Protectors by government security forces. Instead of protecting its own people against plunder, environmental degradation and human rights violations, the US government has chosen to side with big corporations such as ETP. It has done nothing to uphold its international obligations to protect human rights, and its continued support of the DPAL construction clearly shows its bias to protect corporate interests and outright disregard of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other oppressed groups not only in its own country but in the whole world.

We from the IPMSDL, AIPP and IOSDE strongly reiterate our solidarity with the Sioux peoples in their fight  against corporate encroachment, plunder and militarization of their ancestral lands. We continue to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux peoples and all Indigenous Peoples in the world in our common struggle for self determination, the defense of our lands, territories and resources, and the protection of our cultural heritage. Global attention and actions are urgently needed to resolve the historical injustices committed against Indigenous Peoples, which is the source of many of the conflicts around the world.


Reference:

Ms. Beverly Longid
Global Coordinator, IPMSDL, info@ipmsdl.org, ipmsdl@gmail.com

Ms. Joan Carling
Secretary General, AIPP, aippmail@aippnet.org

Ms. India Reed Bowers
Director, IOSDE, info@iosde.org

Dear IOSDE friends and colleagues,

IOSDE, via its director, is on the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of the International Indigenous Peoples' Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL). We work collectively for justice, rights fulfillment and equality.

Please make note of these horrific events, do what you can to help, and share the news in solidarity. The wars against the people(s) of this world we all live in must be brought to an end, for the full and due return of access to life, health, peace and healing.

Press release and link below:

International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation - Friday, November 11, 2016

The International Indigenous Peoples' Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing attacks against the indigenous Santal people and Bengali farmers in Bangladesh by government security forces and private gunmen. To date, these continuing attacks have resulted in 3 deaths and 30 injured. 1,200 families have been forcibly displaced as a result of these actions.

On the morning of November 6, 2016, Bangladeshi police and local gunmen hired by the Rangpur Sugar Mills Authority attacked thousands of indigenous Santal and Bengali peoples in the Shahebgan Bagda farm of Rangpur Sugar Mills in Gaibanda district in Bangladesh. This bloody attack was an effort by the Bangladeshi government and greedy corporations to forcibly evict the Santals from their ancestral lands. 2 died and 30 were injured while another 3 were illegally arrested.

Later that evening government forces and private goons set fire to the houses of the Santals and Bengalis and shot to death another Santal, forcing 1,200 families to flee from their ancestral lands. Unconfirmed reports say another four (4) people were killed by the police and their bodies are being held in the Bagda farm. Following these incidents the Bangladeshi police then slapped more than 400 Santals and Bengalis with trumped-up charges.

Since 2014 the indigenous Santals and Bengali farmers have been demanding the return of over 700 hectares of their ancestral lands from the government and the Rangpur Sugar Mills Authority. The Santals and Bengalis accused the government and the company of violating the previous agreement they had made, wherein the Indigenous Peoples will allow only sugarcane to be planted on their ancestral lands. On July 2016 the indigenous Santals and Bengali farmers occupied over 40 hectares of land and built makeshift homes and a school. This makeshift community was also attacked by government security forces that same month by government forces in an effort to evict the Santals and the Bengali.

These continuing attacks and the refusal of the government and the Rangpur Sugar Mills to honor past agreements with the Santal peoples is a gross violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples to determine the development of their ancestral lands. IPMSDL strongly demands that the government cease and desist further attacks on the Santal people and Bengali farmers and honor previous agreements made with Indigenous Peoples, and their ancestral lands be immediately returned. Furthermore, we demand that all trumped up charges against the Santal people and Bengali farmers be dropped immediately, and that the government immediately arrest State security forces and hired gunmen responsible for the bloody attacks.

The IPMSDL stands united with the Santal people of Bangladesh in the fight to reclaim and defend their ancestral territories, and we are one with the Santal people in condemning these vicious attacks by the Bangladeshi government on the right of the Santals to self determination.

/ref# s1623/mark

Photo from the Dhaka Tribune.

US government and private pipeline security militarization against the water protectors on the traditional territory of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Rob Wilson Photography, https://www.facebook.com/rob.wilson.142892

The Red Owl Legal Collective has sent a Divestment Letter to Den Norske Bank – DNB (The Bank of Norway), in serious and urgent request that DNB divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) due to, among other things, grave human, indigenous and environmental rights violations of the pipeline project and construction.

Link to the letter can be found here.

The letter's heading is DNB Divestment from the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Fulfillment of the Human Rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their Supporters. It was sent to DNB today (Nov. 8) electronically and will be hand-delivered tomorrow (Nov. 9) in person in Norway.

Red Owl Legal Collective, with the support of the National Lawyer's Guild, is the on-the-ground, direct support legal team at the Standing Rock encampment in North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters, also known as water protectors, having been standing against the pipeline for several months, facing ongoing, historical, current and intensely increasing conditions of rights violations due to the pipeline construction and pending usage.

The letter has been compiled and written for the Red Owl Legal Collective by:

Michelle Cook, J.D.
SJD Candidate, University of Arizona, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy
Program
Red Owl Legal Collective Member

India Reed Bowers
BA Cultural Anthropology, Brown University, United States
LLM International law of human rights & criminal justice, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Founder & Director, International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE)

Andrew B. Reid, JD, LLM
Adjunct Professor, International and Human Rights Law of Indigenous Peoples University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Please share widely with your contacts, networks and media.

IOSDE is an endorsing organization of the following Action by Activists and Community Leaders to Protest the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).

Please shared this information, attend and support the action directly via the following contacts, sites and locations in the below shared press release, also located at https://www.facebook.com/PROTESTTHECCA/photos/a.394585177329341.1073741827.394576327330226/989830031138183/?&theater -

For Immediate Release:

Contacts: Mark Bartlett +1 (619) 623-5150, Community Activist,
mark.anthony.bartlett@gmail.com, and Catherine Mendonca +1 (619)
839-9244, Af3irm San Diego, sandiego@af3irm.org

What: Hunger Strike by Activists and Community Leaders to Protest the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
When: July 5th, 2016 at 6pm
Where: 551 S. 35th St. San Diego, CA 92113, facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/241730556214163/?notif_t=plan_user_associated&notif_id=1467169151545065

San Diego, on July 5th, 2016 – This is a call for ACTION that will begin on July 5th in Southeast San Diego as we stand in solidarity to protest against the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Community Leaders and Local Activists will execute a hunger strike next to the Oceanview Facility located at 551 S. 35th St. San Diego, CA 92113. The hunger strike will continue until all action items requested by the protest organizers have been satisfied.

The CCA is the largest for-profit prison industry in America and they currently operate three Correctional Facilities across San Diego County. Two out of the three facilities are located in the heart of Southeast San Diego and Barrio Logan. Both centers are located in residential neighborhoods within close proximity of homes, churches, schools, and businesses. CCA is looking to capitalize through alternative services in order to boost their revenue by purchasing re-entry/detention centers across the country.

Rally and Protest Details: Tuesday July 5, 2016 at 6:00 pm, Correctional Corporation of America (CCA/CAI), 551 S. 35th St. San Diego, CA 92113

At a site within close proximity of the correctional facility, advocates will urge the County of San Diego to terminate their partnership with CCA and return the building back to the community. Advocates also request that all Justice Involved Individuals will be provided with quality RE-ENTRY services that are not run by for-profit prison corporations. Community Leaders also demand that all agencies at the local, state, and federal level terminate their contracts with CCA and demand a thorough investigation into their low staffing levels, high use and possession of narcotics in their facilities, possible tampering and forging of County/Federal documents, lack of resources and programs for Justice Involved Individuals, overcrowding that breaches their contract stipulations, misuse and improper handling of the distribution of prescribed medication, absence of medical care, as well as improper training and the lack of personal safety equipment for staff. We also request that the San Diego Police Department along with the San Diego Fire Department/EMT relinquish all documented complaints from the community and a record of dispatch calls they have received from the facility where they responded to a situation at the center. Lastly, Community Organizers request that the Federal Bureau of Prisons release their full monitoring audit documents for both facilities from 2015 to the public.

“These two re-entry facilities in San Diego was the birth of a new era for CCA in terms of residential community correctional centers. New avenues to generate revenue gave rise to the “Treatment Industrial Complex” where for-profit prison corporations are seeking alternative services such as Re-entry centers, Mental Health centers, and Electronic Monitoring (GPS). Both facilities were purchased in 2013 for $36 million dollars cash and have a combined total capacity of 603 beds. This is a slap in the face to the community to allow a corporation to operate in our backyards that thrives off profiting from the criminalization and incarceration of black, brown, and the poor from underserved communities. We must reclaim our communities and demand investment in infrastructures that create a pipeline to higher learning rather than institutions of formal control. Stand in solidarity as we unite to bridge the gap between our communities from the waterfront of Barrio Logan to the streets of Southeast San Diego” ~ Mark Bartlett

We must ban private prisons! "Once CCA or GEO Group secures a new contract, every taxpayer dollar that goes toward their profit is a dollar not spent on improving conditions in jails and prisons or pursuing alternatives to incarceration. Private prison companies also pitch their services as short-term solutions to overcrowding, but too often public officials become dependent on the private space and delay addressing the root causes of incarceration." Donald Cohen in It’s a crime: How private prison companies encourage mass incarceration - Salon

We do not need private prison corporations in our backyards! We need schools, parks, family owned businesses, community centers, community programs, and other establishments that will help promote positive social change for our people rather than incarceration. This is call for ACTION so we must stand in solidarity and ACT NOW! Join our fight across the country and stand in solidarity as we demand real Criminal Justice and Prison Reform that does not include the privatization of Correctional Centers and alternative services.

"Profits over People" exposes the injustices in our broken Criminal Justice system and how the privatization of prisons has played a key role in enslaving, exploiting, and the monetizing of our people which has led to mass incarceration today.

Protest the Corrections Corporation of America
https://www.facebook.com/PROTESTTHECCA

San Diego No More Prisons
https://www.facebook.com/SANDIEGONOMOREPRISONS

Endorsing organizations include: United Against Police Terror - San Diego; Af3irm San Diego; Black Men For Bernie, Artful Activist San Diego;Overpass Light Brigade - San Diego; San Diego Social Leagues; Millions for Prisoners Human Rights Committee; Justleadershipusa (JLUSA); National END MASS Incarceration; Nadia Contreras of ImMYOwnBlessing; Coalition For Labor & Community Solidarity; La Flor De La Resistencia; Angeles Sin Fronteras; Fuerza Amigos de Aztlan; South San Diego - inmate penpals, Citizens Oversight Projects, Rebuilding Re-Entry Coalition,Justice or ELSE San Diego, International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality IOSDE, The Roots Factory

In solidarity.

Protest today in front of the Honduras Embassy in New York City during the weeks of the UNPFII (UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues).

IOSDE has run into our Mindanao Indigenous friends protesting the assassination of Berta Caceres and other Human, Indigenous and Nature Rights Defenders and People(s).

While a few well-positioned people in the halls of the United Nations continue to spend time, resources and attention to UN posts, diplomatic relations with States and funding therein, Indigenous Peoples and poor people, nature defenders, mothers and women, youth, workers and people of all kinds, faiths, backgrounds and lives around the world face conditions of murder, abuse, torture, displacement and worsening conditions.

We stand in solidarity for real change for all persons, nature and peoples- for real justice in the face of hallways, board rooms, conferences, policed dominance and endless paper trails begging for, demanding and calling for life, safety and peace.

IOSDE along with ADBR (Association for Global Development of Batwa in Rwanda), an Indigenous Batwa organization from Rwanda, has submitted an Alternative Report to the United Nations CERD Committee (the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination) for the Committee's review of Rwanda's adherence to the CERD Treaty. Full report available at the session website here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/…/…/INT_CERD_NGO_RWA_23616_E.pdf

The CERD review of Rwanda will be webcast live 28-29 April, in addition to the live webcasting of other States being reviewed during the 89th session of CERD that week and the week following.

We wish our Batwa colleagues and friends all equality, justice, safety and increased access to the United Nations Indigenous platform without discrimination.

Thursday, 17 March 2016

La Vía Campesina denounces the grave criminalization taking place in Honduras today in the form of prisons, repression and the assassination of peasant and indigenous leaders. In the last few weeks the situation has worsened greatly with the proliferation of hired assassins aiming to take the lives of those who demand land to produce food, of those who struggle against extractivism, dams, and agribusiness.

Yesterday, March 15th, several regrettable events took place which we summarize below. All require the urgent attention and action of our organizations, allies and human rights entities:

1. Assassination attempt on Cristian Alegría, cousin of Rafael Alegría, lawmaker for the Libre Party and Coordinator of La Vía Campesina Honduras. This attack ocurred in front of La Vía Campesina offices located at Colonia Alameda, Tegucigalpa. 

2. Assassination of Nelson García, member of COPINH and community leader in Río Chiquito. This tragic event took place during the forced eviction of the Río Lindo community, in department of Cortés, when an estimated 100 police officers, 20 members of the military police, 10 members of the Army, and various members of DGIC invaded the territory previously recovered by 150 families, 75 of which had built homes in the area with materials and efforts they worked hard to obtain.

3. Capture of Muca President Juan Ángel Flores in the departament of Colón. Detained in the early morning and accussed of links to drug trafficking, the lack of evidence forced authorities to release him hours later.

4. Detention of public defender Orbelina Flores Hernández, member of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan, accusing her of involvement in land conflicts.

5. Sentencing of David Romero, journalist of Radio Globo, to 10 years in prison. David has been courageously denouncing the embezzlement of social security and other acts of corruption in Honduras, all of which indicate involvement of the ruling party.

It is evident that these attacks are directed at combative social movements engaged in the struggle for land and in defense of territories such as La Vía Campesina, COPINH and Muca.

As such, we of La Vía Campesina:

1. Denounce the Honduran government for executing a plan of repression against leaders and social movements.

2. Demand respect for the life of Honduran social activists.

3. Call for international human rights organizations to come to Honduras and accompany the grave humanitarian situation being faced in the country. It is important that the Honduran government be denounced at the international level for its direct attacks on, and criminalization of, social struggles.

4. Ask for all those concerned with human rights and justice to articulate public acts of solidarity at Honduran embassies around the world. To make these actions known write to viacampesina@viacampesina.org and, in Honduras, contact the offices of La Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa by emailing viacampesinahonduras2015@gmail.com. Members of the press and allies should contact: Rafael Alegría, 00504 9969-5091, office 00504 2235-9915 and Wendy Cruz 00504 9983-8506.

For La Vía Campesina, solidarity and internationalism are the key values of our movement. As such, we will continue monitoring the situation in Honduras closely, making public and denouncing internationally the persecution and criminalization faced by peasant, indigenous, and afro movements engaged in the frontline struggle to defend our territories against transnational capital and its attempt to take control of our natural resources.

Globalize struggle! Globalize hope!

For our dead, not one minute of silence! An entire life of struggle!

For more information go to: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-mainmenu-40/2000-international-condemnation-honduras-end-the-violence-and-death-against-the-peasant-indigenous-movement

Consultations are now underway re "possible measures necessary, including procedural and institutional steps and selection criteria, to enable the participation of indigenous peoples' representative and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them".

Consultations will include, in the quickly-coming weeks and months: engagements online, at the UNPFII (UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), EMRIP (UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), and at States' national levels. Stay updated on UN level consultations here: www.un.org/indigenous

Download predating related points, positions and arguments: "Indigenous Decolonization and United Nations Membership: Indigenous Peoples and the Fundamental Right to Self-Determination", 2012 LLM thesis by IOSDE Founder & Director India Reed Bowers, B.A. Cultural Anthropology, Brown University, United States, LL.M. International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, or view online here: www.scribd.com/doc/129340589/Indigenous-Decolonization-and-United-Nations-Membership-Indigenous-Peoples-and-the-Fundamental-Right-to-Self-Determination

Video archive of first interactive briefing, "the participation of the Indigenous Peoples at the UN - General Assembly, Informal meeting 7 Mar 2016 - General Assembly: Informal meeting on the implementation of the relevant provisions of resolution 70/232 entitled Rights of Indigenous Peoples.":

Invitation (with short notice) sent to selected Representatives of Indigenous Peoples (selection criteria currently unknown) for attendance to first interactive briefing: