IITC tours treaty US

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The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), which advocates the recognition of the human rights of Indian and other original peoples throughout the world, made a visit to Canada recently in an effort to strengthen ties with Treaty Indians.

Bill Wahpapah of the Kickapoo and Sauk and Fox Nation was the IITC board member representative who came to support Treaty Indian nations, who met at Saddle Lake in November.

There, he explained "who we (IITC) are and why we are."

The IITC is a grassroots organization, formed in 1974, when 4,000 Indian Elders and activists concerned about the plight of Indian people and Indian lands met at Standing Rock, Arizona.

"The Indian Treaty Council promotes education about the treaties. A treaty is a document made between nations," said Wahpapah.

It has since become a world-wide organization with board members from Guatemala, Aotearoe (New Zealand), South America and the United States.

In 1977, an IITC delegation went to geneva, Switzerland, to participate at the United Nations (U.N.) Commission on Human Rights, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

A meeting of 7,000 IITC members was also held at this time.

Since 1977, the IITC have been regular participants at U.N.. and other inter-national human rights forums.

They are the only Treaty Indian organization to have received a Non-Govern-mental Organization (NGO) status to participate at the U.N. Human Rights hearings. "The NGO status is used for the documentation and recording of submissions,

to the U.N. hearings on human rights, said Wahpapah.

"We have to take the issue of treaty rights to the international level."

The IITC is based in San Francisco, and works with other Indian and indigenous peoples all over the world.

The IITC gives priority to Treaty Rights, land rights, religious freedom and protection of sacred sites, human rights struggles (including political prisoners, fishing, hunting and water rights) and the human rights of indigenous people in Central and South America, Mexico, Aotearoe (New Zealand) and the Pacific Region.