Greetings to the this distinguished panel of the Sub-Commission for the Sixteenth Session.

Again, it is such an honor for us to be privileged with this opportunity to address and present our concerns towards gobal survival for all Indigenous cultures, including our own in Arizona.

At this time we wish to present this assembly and the world audience, the current situation we face, that is, the policies of forced removal of members of our communities and Nation.
Secondly, we would like to present this statement as an inclusion into this discussion about the Agenda.

As everyone may recall, the traditional Dineh communities of the Sovereign Dineh Nation (SDN) have been subjected to a Congressional Act which has implemented an inhumane relocation policy since 1977.

This mandate, PL 93-531, became an Executive Order in 1974, and following thereafter, the 1977 partitioning of the territories was primarily based on the "cost-effectiveness" for extractable aquifers and coal deposits.

Since 1977, the relocation process has eliminated over 85 percent of the traditional Dineh population from the isolated and pristine highlands of northeastern Arizona.

Also, nearly 400 traditional Hopis were affected by this partitioning, and the secondary effects of PL 93-531 still continue among certain traditional Hopi populations.
The implementation of this Executive Order has drastically affected the interrelationships among these two Nations.

Furthermore, there is a continual psychological effect that is currently devastating the seasonal religious practices and the well-being of this last remaining Dineh resistance communities.

In addition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) under the U. S. Department of Interior have furthered the disaggregation of the close-knit relationships among the, now, partitioned Dineh communities.

This has resulted in a lack of response by the Navajo Partitioned Lands (NPL) residents to the needs of those facing eviction or confinement within limited estates.

Methods of undermining were also indirectly carried out by the BIA and their Navajo Nation government counterpart, which has disrupted the interests for protecting and preserving Dineh cultures with the Hopi Partitioned Lands (HPL).

Dividing methods also occured as a result from the 1997 Accomodation Agreement (AA) lease signings, imposed by the federal district courts, which were then implemented through intimidations and coercions by the same BIA tribal officials and non-Indian lawyers previously involved.

Madamchair, the conditions that we are subjected to is becoming more crucial:

Just this summer, the remaining traditional residents were informed by the Navajo Nation government, that the U. S. Department of Interior and the Justice Department have suggested the use of Navajo tribal police to carry out the final eviction in the early part of the year 2000.

The residents of HPL who did not sign the AA lease are being pressured to sign up for voluntary relocation, or else face forced eviction after December 31, 1999.

There is never a day when these traditional resisters can live without fear.

An example is the BIA's issuance of livestock impoundment notices early this summer.
Impoundment refers to the BIA's standard for forced collection of the excess number of livestock that increased from the two previous breeding seasons.

In reference to the Provisional Agenda, first, we state our concerns for the evolution of standards which refers to our Indigenous Rights in respect to energy and mining developments.

This needs a considerable amount of attention towards the methods and tactics used to acquire mineral leases upon Indian reservations, and to especially focus on how such accessibility was designed by the U. S. Interior Departmentﾕs BIA.

In the case of Black Mesa, where Big Mountain is located, the methods by which Peabody Western Coal Company (PWCC) leases were made has completely over looked the ancient balance and the interaction between the ecology and indigenous cultural practices.

PWCC, the U. S. Department of Interior, the Hopi tribal council and the Navajo Nation government have all continuously ignored and downplayed these environmental concerns presented by the traditional Dineh and Hopi inhabitants since the 1960s.

The Judicial System, the Justice Department and the Executive Branch of the United States have all failed to address such evidence that, the PWCC leases evolved from a tremendous amount of lobbying efforts from major utility companies of the American southwest, which will verify PWCCs conflict-of-interest in the passage of PL 93-531.

Additional details on this matter will require more investigation and further gathering of existing evidence and testimonies.

In respect to the working papers of the Special Rapporteur, we will ask this panel of the Sub-Commission to take full consideration for this report concerning the situations within the Sovereign Dineh Nation.

Despite that not all of the affected traditional people's testimonies were recorded or documented, this report is vital to the survival of our culture, and which gives us hope that it can establish a tribunal to identify those responsible for the disruption of our relationships to the land.

Also, let it be noted, that further documentation on this matter is very essential, and that this Sub-Commission should take into consideration for other, immediate future visits to our communities here in northeastern Arizona.

Again, we Thank You for your important presence here, today, and for hearing our statement.

In the Spirit of Global Peace,

Big Mountain Sovereign Dineh Nation

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