Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Protest as a Violation of Human Rights

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Dakota Access Pipeline Project

For the last few weeks, the hundreds of activists from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have been protesting against the construction of the 1,170-mile Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that aims to build a pipeline that will transfer oil from North Dakota to Illinois (Levin 2016). Standing Rock claims that the pipeline would damage the sacred sites of their ancestors and is potentially harmful to the local environment and the economic situation of the tribe. They received a lot of support from neighboring reservations and non-natives, who joined the campsites and participated in demonstrations. The authorities used law enforcement several times to stop the clashes and remove the protesters from the work sites.

The third generation rights

The third generation or solidarity rights are the most newly recognized kind of human/natural rights (Ahmed 2015, p. 12). Specifically, these concern the residents of developing territories. These rights encompass the right to development and the right to a healthy environment.

The project is a menace to sacred native lands and might pollute the water supply from the Missouri River. Since Standing Rock’s primary economic occupation is agriculture, the pipeline would jeopardize the well-being of its citizens. The Corps of Engineers did not consult tribal governments before allowing the project implementation and ignored the cautions from the Environmental Protection Agency. Therefore, the “project violates federal law and native treaties with the US government” (Levin 2016). The case of human rights violations on behalf of the police toward the activists is also being investigated.

According to Dakota Access Pipeline defenders, DAPL

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project that would allow for the transfer of domestic crude oil from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to Illinois, covering four states. DAPL has stated that “pipelines are the safest, most efficient method of transporting oil” (Levin 2016, para. 11). The authorities are confident that it will make the country less dependent on foreign oil and will be economically beneficial for the region as well (Grinberg, Parks, Ravitz & Sidner 2016). The project would cost $3.7B, and according to Energy Transfer Partners, the entire pipeline would be finished by the end of 2016.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe began protesting in April 2016

Throughout the history of colonization, the tribes entered numerous treaties, regarded as a “sacred compromise to provide special protection for indigenous peoples” (Contreras & Rombouts 2011, p. 72). However, the treaties never worked, and they still have to protect their own interests.

The protest started in April when tribe members formed their first camp, Sacred Stone. Currently, with the support of thousands of people, including the neighboring reservations and non-native activists, the Standing Rock Sioux are trying to stop the construction process. They are setting up camps and organizing peaceful, unarmed demonstrations in the areas where the buildings are planned (Levin 2016). The Standing Rock tribe is also asserting their rights in court, claiming that the project was approved without the participation of tribal government and that the consequences of the pipeline construction were not properly investigated.

Despite the continuous demonstrations and global resonance, the construction resumed

The authorities responded to the public outcry with law enforcement, using pepper spray, teargas, and rubber bullets and arresting the activists. At the same time, the clashes managed to put the construction on hold and make the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers review its approvals. Barack Obama commented that the Army Corps considered rerouting the pipeline around sacred native lands (Levin 2016). However, the argumentation of the opponents did not convince the Corps to stop the work. The project directors argue that the pipeline design neutralizes any risk to the water supply from an oil spill and assure that “no sacred Native American items have been found along the route” (Milman 2016, para. 12). Despite the continuous demonstrations and global resonance, the construction resumed.

Reference List

Levin, S 2016, ‘Dakota Access pipeline: the who, what and why of the Standing Rock protests’, The Guardian, Web.

Grinberg, E, Parks, B, Ravitz, J & Sidner, S 2016, ‘What’s next in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests?’, CNN, Web.

Ahmed, M 2015, Whether It Makes Sense to Universally Expand Second and Third Generation Human Rights?, Web.

Contreras, D & Rombouts, S J 2011, ‘Collective Reparations For Victimized Indigenous Communities: Examples Of Human Rights Violations Before The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights’ Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos, no. 11, pp. 67-84.

Milman, O 2016 ‘Dakota Access Pipeline plan still on despite protests across the US and world’, The Guardian, Web.

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Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Protest as a Violation of Human Rights

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