[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 26549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE GWICH'IN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 16, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I sent the attached statement of support 
for the Gwich'in tribe on November 4, 2005.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                                   Washington, DC.


                        statement of support for

A MORAL CHOICE FOR THE UNITED STATES: THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS FOR 
 THE GWICH'IN PEOPLE OF DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

       The undersigned Members of Congress express their strong 
     support for the Gwich'in people in their long-running battle 
     to protect their culture and way of life by preventing oil 
     and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The 
     report issued today by the Gwich'in Steering Committee, The 
     Episcopal Church, and Professor Richard J. Wilson, Director 
     of the Human Rights Law Clinic at American University, amply 
     demonstrates that opening the Coastal Plain to drilling would 
     violate the internationally recognized human rights of the 
     Gwich'in to subsistence, to culture, to health, and to 
     religion. The United States has a duty to safeguard these 
     fundamental rights by protecting the Coastal Plain and its 
     prime calving and post-calving grounds for the Porcupine 
     Caribou Herd. The Porcupine Caribou Herd is central to the 
     Gwich'in people's subsistence, culture, and entire way of 
     life, and has been since time immemorial.
       The report released today describes the nature of the close 
     relationship between the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the 
     Gwich'in people. According to Gwich'in elder, Jonathan 
     Solomon, ``It is our belief that the future of the Gwich'in 
     and the future of the Caribou are the same.'' The report also 
     draws from the body of scientific research to show that 
     opening the Coastal Plain to oil drilling would displace 
     calving caribou from the prime calving grounds of the Coastal 
     Plain, inexorably driving down calf survival and the 
     population of the herd. Finally, the report shows that the 
     continuing decline of the herd's population or a major change 
     in its migration pattern could make subsistence hunting more 
     difficult for the Gwich'in people or force them to curtail 
     their annual caribou harvest. By damaging the ability of the 
     Gwich'in to rely on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for their 
     physical and cultural needs as they have done for millennia, 
     a decision to open the Coastal Plain to oil exploration and 
     development would violate the human right of the Gwich'in 
     under internationally recognized norms.
       In light of the findings of this report and our moral 
     obligation to protect the Gwich'in way of life, we urge our 
     colleagues to reject any proposal to open the Coastal Plain 
     of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas 
     exploration and development.
         Dennis. J. Kucinich, Edward J. Markey, Barbara Lee, Raul 
           M. Grijalva, Dale E. Kildee, Donald M. Payne, Maurice 
           D. Hinchey, James P. McGovern, Peter A. DeFazio, Lynn 
           C. Woolsey, Bernie Sanders, Janice D. Schakowsky, Danny 
           K. Davis, Jim McDermott, Sam Farr, John Conyers, Jr., 
           Diane E. Watson, William Lacy Clay, Betty McCollum.

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