On the occasion of the 35th session of the Human Rights Council, CETIM has the pleasure to invite you to a side-event on :  

The “water protectors” from the Sioux tribe of Standing Rock

Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) : fossil fuels versus indigenous rights

Wednesday 7th of June 2017, 12.00-13.30,

Speakers :

Mrs. Rachel Heaton, Indigenous leader in the Seattle Action No Dapl, Muckleshoot Tribe of Auburn (WA)

Mrs. Waste Win Young, social and environmental activist, Long Soldier Community of Standing Rock

Mr. Rafael Gonzalez, activist and musician for water rights, Southside Minneapolis 

Mr. Nataanii Means, Oglala Sioux and Navajo activist and hip-hop artist

Moderation :

Mr. Melik Özden, Director of the Europe Third World Center (CETIM)

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a project that would transport crude oil from the North Dakota oil field to a refinery in Illinois. The local Sioux tribe, with the support of hundreds of other Native American tribes and many local solidarity movements, set up a broad protest movement to try to block the project, despite violent repression from the US authorities. For the opponents of the DAPL, the project threatens sacred native lands and could bring great social and environmental damages. The project, which is driven by the profit interests of the big corporations, could contaminate the Missouri river, the main water supply for the local tribes and 14 million persons downstream.

After months of mobilization, end of 2016 the project was revoked by the US administration. But as soon as Mr. Donald Trump was elected as US President, he unilaterally decided to restart and finalize the project. The non-violent resistance of the “water protectors from Standing Rock” continues in the context of a national campaign. They demand the end of the project and the beginning of an energetic transition, starting with the divestment of the DAPL and all fossil energies.

Interpretation to spanish and french