MEBANE, N.C. – According to a news release from 7 Directions of Service, an Indigenous-led North Carolina human rights organization, earlier this week it “ … filed a lengthy communication with the United Nations Human Rights Commission officials tasked with investigating, reporting on, and recommending to governments and businesses to cure human rights violations related to toxic chemicals, cultural rights, minority rights, human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

“We, the indigenous peoples of the Monacan, Saponi, and Occaneechi of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, have the right to preserve and transmit our culture and protect our sacred sites and artifacts.”

7 Directions of Service Statement

7 Directions of Service provides an international voice for Indigenous Peoples in the Southeastern United States according to the news release.

Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, the co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, said, “We have seen time after time our sacred places, water, and land destroyed, as well as the hundreds of human rights violations for fossil fuel greed with little thought or acknowledgment of the cultural and sacred connections of our Yesah indigenous communities to these lands. Indigenous Communities like mine rely on the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act as the only legal mechanisms we have to engage the energy corporations like the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) threatening our backyards and to ensure basic regulatory review and accountability.”

According to 7 Directions of Service, “In the last nine years, five or more indigenous water protectors and land defenders have been arrested for protecting these sacred sites that the MVP is desecrating. The letter, three documents, and a 60-page report from organizations allege that the Mountain Valley Pipeline has violated human rights for nearly a decade. Also, 7 Directions of Service notes that the MVP has violated the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Articles 11, 26, and 29.” Responding to these events, the group stated, “We, the indigenous peoples of the Monacan, Saponi, and Occaneechi of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, have the right to preserve and transmit our culture and protect our sacred sites and artifacts.”

The group declares in the news release, “7 Directions of Service demands, among other remedies, that the Mountain Valley Pipeline polluters be held accountable for violation of human rights, destruction and desecration of sacred sites, mountains, and rivers, and provide clean-up costs for all impacted residents of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.  This is the first time an Indigenous-led organization has formally requested the United Nations to characterize and intervene with special procedures as a human rights violation under international law.”

It continues, “7 Directions of Service complaint seeks from the Special Rapporteurs a statement confirming violations of indigenous peoples’ and community citizens’ right to clean drinking water, protection from toxic chemicals, a healthy environment, their right to protection from destruction, and their right to an effective remedy.”

According to the ACLU, “Special Rapporteurs (‘SRs’) are independent experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council (formerly the U.N. Commission on Human Rights) with the mandate to monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries (country mandates) and on human rights violations worldwide (thematic mandates). The thematic mandates cover a wide range of issues relating to civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, including the human rights of migrants, violence against women, the rights of internally displaced persons, freedom of religion and arbitrary detention, among many others.” You can learn more here.

Jason Crazy Bear Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, affirmed, “We must fight for each other because all our fights are one. Stand with us against this dirty, fracked methane gas pipeline because we’ll show up for you when the fight comes to your corner next. I say fight, but we don’t have to fight. History shows us that violence never got us anywhere. If we all stand in a line, holding hands, unmovable, it’s not a fight. If enough of us call and meet with our elected leaders, they’ll have to listen.”

According to the news release, “7 Directions of Service detailed communications to the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes; Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples; and, a Special Rapporteur on minority issues provides a legal road map for restoring Appalachian communities to a healthier way of life and for preventing further fossil fuel harms in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and beyond.”

The news release continues, “MVP has breached a karst aquifer near Sinking Creek (in Virginia earlier this month); a torrent of polluted water has flooded nearby properties, choking Sinking Creek with thick, muddy discharges. These and numerous other streams have suffered repeated runoffs of pollution caused by MVP. These incidents accelerated in late 2023 and are continuing into 2024.”

The news release concludes, “7 Directions of Service also requests that the Special Rapporteur make specific asks of MVP, FERC, and Virginia DEQ to stop the work order for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) due to repeated and widespread violations and damage to water bodies, destruction of sacred burial mounds, graves, sacred sites, and private properties.”

The full letter to the United Nations can be read here.

Courtesy Article – News Release from 7 Directions of Service; it has been edited for clarity and style. Learn more about 7 Directions of Service here. Feature photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash

Related Articles from the Appalachian Chronicle

‘Following the Water’ Provides a Trail Straight to the MVP in West Virginia Flash Floods (12/10/23)

Is Doddridge County, W.Va. Ready for a Disaster? Official’s Silence Makes it Seem Unlikely (12/11/23)

Drone Footage Reveals Long Repair of MVP Section in Northern W.Va.; MVP Responds but Questions Remain (12/19/23)

Fractured Sanctuary

Learn more about my book, Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia. Also here.