CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

International Indian Treaty Council

Commission on the Protection of Sacred Sites; Cultural and Spiritual Rights

Wairoa Marae, Tauranga Moana, Aotearoa

Saturday, February 9^th, 2002

The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) recognizes that the Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples is the foundation of our respective societies. It is therefore of great concern to us that various colonial forces continue to actively erode our traditional Spiritual beliefs among our Peoples.

The Spirituality of Indigenous Peoples has its roots in natural law. Our life ways are directed toward balance with our natural environments and our Sacred Mother Earth. If that spirituality is not respected it will cause a dis-equilibrium with all forms of life on this our Mother Earth. Our Spirituality is the most intimate and profound source of life for Indigenous Peoples.

To exercise our Spirituality we establish relationships to our Sacred Sites and Ceremonial Grounds. Our musical instruments, our ancient ceremonies and ceremonial objects, our sacred symbols and objects, our books and our oral traditions are essential elements in our Spirituality. Our elders and spiritual leaders and our ceremonies and beliefs merit the same respect that dominant societies accord their religions.

Our Commission is greatly concerned that governments are expropriating, regulating, undertaking the protection of, and administering our Sacred Sites and ceremonial areas. These responsibilities are solely the responsibilities of our traditional communities and spiritual leaders. These governmental actions in reality are the continuing theft and destruction of our Sacred Sites. They profane these Sacred Areas.

We are concerned that the government of New Zealand has actively interfered in the protection and preservation of the waahi tapu (Sacred Sites) of the Maori Hapu and Iwi through reliance on consultations with governmentally created bodies. The IITC fully supports the Hapu and Iwi in asserting customary law in identifying and protecting their waahi tapu.

We also support the just demands of Mayan Spiritual Leaders of Guatemala for the recognition of their rights in preserving and administering Mayan Sacred Sites. We also call upon the Guatemalan government and their Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism, to recognize and respect these Sacred rights.

The theft of sacred objects and human remains of Indigenous Peoples has caused much suffering. Justice for these crimes can only occur with their repatriation. The Commission strongly calls upon the IITC to support and assist Indigenous Nations and communities in the repatriation of ancestral remains and sacred objects held in both public and private hands.

Since the colonialist invasions we have seen our collective human right and fundamental freedom of religion violated by the States, and religious intolerance by powerful sectors of dominant societies including Christian churches, directed toward our spiritual leaders and guides, our Sacred symbols and ceremonial objects as well as our ceremonies and beliefs, all over the world. As a matter of urgency, the IITC should work toward an international working group, composed of Indigenous traditional spiritual leaders and guides, and others chosen by them, from the four directions, to discuss those matters most convenient to them, on an international level. The IITC fully supports the revitalization of traditional Indigenous Spirituality all over the world. The IITC offers its support and solidarity to those Indigenous Peoples struggling to revive their ceremonies and spiritual ways.

The IITC should also continue taking cases of religious intolerance and violations of religious human rights to appropriate international for at the United Nations.

For all our relations.