Columbus Day Promotes Genocide
By Francis A. Boyle
First Published 18 September 1992
Countercurrents.org
Indictment of the Federal Government of the U.S. for the commission of
international crimes and petition for orders mandating its proscription
and dissolution as an international criminal conspiracy and criminal
organization
Introduction
All citizens of the World Community have both the right and the duty
under public international law to sit in judgment over a gross and
consistent pattern of violations of the most fundamental norms of
international criminal law committed by any member state of that same
World Community. Such is the case for the International Tribunal of
Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nationalities in the United States of
America that convenes in San Francisco during the weekend of October
1-4, 1992. Its weighty but important task is to examine the long history
of international criminal activity that has been perpetrated by the
Federal Government of the United States of America against the
Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living in North America since it
was founded in 1787.
Toward that end, I have the honor to present to the Members of this
Tribunal the following charges against the Federal Government of the
United States of America under international criminal law. In light of
the gravity, severity, and longstanding nature of these international
crimes and also in light of the fact that the Federal Government of the
United States of America appears to be irrevocably committed to
continuing down this path of lawlessness and criminality against
Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living in North America and
elsewhere, I hereby petition the Members of this Tribunal to issue an
Order proscribing the Federal Government of the United States of America
as an International Criminal Conspiracy and a Criminal Organization
under the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles as well as the
other sources of public international law specified below. For that
reason, I also request that the Members of this Tribunal issue an Order
dissolving the Federal Government of the United States of America as a
legal and political entity. Finally, I ask this Tribunal to declare that
international legal sovereignty over the Territories principally
inhabited by the Native American Peoples, the New Afrikan People, the
Mexicano People, and the People of Puerto Rico resides in the hands of
these respective Peoples Themselves.
In this regard, I should point out that the final Decision of this
Tribunal will qualify as a judicial decision within the meaning of
article 38(1)(d) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice
and will therefore constitute a subsidiary means for the determination
of rules of law for international law and practice. The Statute of the
International Court of Justice is an integral part of the United Nations
Charter under article 92 thereof. Thus, this Tribunal's Decision can be
relied upon by some future International Criminal Court or Tribunal, as
well as by any People or State of the World Community that desires to
initiate criminal proceedings against named individuals for the
commission of the following international crimes. The Decision of this
Tribunal shall serve as adequate notice to the appropriate officials in
the United States Federal Government that they bear personal criminal
responsibility under international law and the domestic legal systems of
all Peoples and States in the World Community for designing and
implementing these illegal, criminal and reprehensible policies and
practices against Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living in
North America. Hereinafter, the Federal Government of the United States
of America will be referred to as the Defendant.
BILL OF PARTICULARS AGAINST
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Native American Peoples
1. The Defendant has perpetrated innumerable Crimes Against eace, Crimes
Against Humanity and War Crimes against Native American Peoples as
recognized by the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles.
2. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Genocide
against Native American Peoples as recognized by the 1948 Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
3. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Apartheid
against Native American Peoples as recognized by the 1973 International
Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
4. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the most fundamental human rights of Native American
Peoples as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
5. The Defendant has perpetrated numerous and repeated violations of the
1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination against Native American Peoples.
6. The Defendant has systematically violated 371 treaties it concluded
with Native American Peoples in wanton disregard of the basic principle
of public international law and practice dictating pacta sunt servanda.
7. The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right
of Native American Peoples to self-determination as recognized by the
1945 United Nations Charter, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, fundamental principles of customary
international law, and jus cogens.
8. The Defendant has violated the seminal United Nations Declaration on
the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Territories of
1960 with respect to Native American Peoples and Territories. Pursuant
thereto, the Defendant has an absolute international legal obligation to
decolonize Native American Territories immediately and to transfer all
powers it currently exercises there to the Native American Peoples.
9. The Defendant has illegally refused to accord full-scope protections
as Prisoners-of-War to captured Native American independence fighters in
violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol
I thereto of 1977. The Defendant's treatment of captured Native American
independence fighters as common criminals and terrorists constitutes a
grave breach of the Geneva Accords and thus a serious war crime.
10. The Defendant has deliberately and systematically permitted, aided
and abetted, solicited and conspired to commit the dumping,
transportation, and location of nuclear, toxic, medical and otherwise
hazardous waste materials on Native American Territories across North
America and has thus created a clear and present danger to the lives,
health, safety, and physical and mental well-being of Native American
Peoples in gross violation of article 3 and article 2(c) of the 1948
Genocide Convention, inter alia: Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in
whole or in part; ...
The New Afrikan People
11. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Slavery
upon the New Afrikan People as recognized in part by the 1926 Slavery
Convention and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of
Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to
Slavery. The Defendant has illegally refused to pay reparations to the
New Afrikan People for the commission of the International Crime of
Slavery against Them in violation of basic norms of customary
international law requiring such reparations to be paid.
12. The Defendant has perpetrated innumerable Crimes Against Humanity
against the New Afrikan People as recognized by the Nuremberg Charter,
Judgment, and Principles.
13. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of genocide
against the New Afrikan People as recognized by the 1948 Genocide
Convention.
14. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Apartheid
against the New Afrikan People as recognized by the 1973 Apartheid
Convention.
15. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the most fundamental human rights of the New Afrikan
People as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the two aforementioned United Nations Human Rights Covenants of
1966.
16. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the 1965 Racism Convention against the New Afrikan People.
The Defendant is the paradigmatic example of an irremediably racist
state in international relations today.
17. The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right
of the New Afrikan People to self-determination as recognized by the
United Nations Charter, the two United Nations Human rights Covenants of
1966, customary international law, and jus cogens.
18. The Defendant has illegally refused to apply the United Nations
Decolonization Resolution of 1960 to the New Afrikan People and to the
Territories that they principally inhabit. Pursuant thereto, the
Defendant has an absolute international legal obligation to decolonize
New Afrikan Territories immediately and to transfer all powers it
currently exercises there to the New Afrikan People.
19. The Defendant has illegally refused to accord full-scope protections
as Prisoners-of-War to captured New Afrikan independence fighters in
violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol
I thereto of 1977. The Defendant's treatment of captured New Afrikan
independence fighters as common criminals and terrorists constitutes a
grave breach of the Geneva Accords and thus a serious war crime.
The Mexicano People
20. In 1821, Mexico obtained its independence from colonial Spain as a
sovereign Mestizo State, extending from Yucatan and Chiapas in the
south, to the northern territories of California and New Mexico, which
areas the Defendant today calls the states of Texas, California,
Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Nevertheless, in 1836
so-called settlors under the sponsorship of the Defendant began the
division of the Mexicano People and State by causing the division of the
Mexican state of Coahuila-Texas into the Mexican state of Coahuila and
the so-called republic of Texas.
21. In 1846, the Defendant perpetrated an unjust, illegal and
unjustifiable war upon the remainder of the sovereign People and State
of Mexico that violated every known principle of public international
law in existence at that time, including, but not limited to, the
Christian Doctrine of just war, which was the then reigning standard of
customary international law. As a result thereof, the Defendant
illegally annexed close to 51% of the territories of the sovereign State
of Mexico by means of forcing it to conclude the 1848 Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo under military duress. For these reasons, this Treaty
was and still is null and void ab initio as a matter of public
international law. The Defendant acquired more Mexican territory through
the Gadsen Treaty (Purchase) of 1854.
22. Since these 1848 and 1854 Treaties, the Defendant has perpetrated
the International Crime of Genocide against the Mexicano People living
within these occupied territories, as recognized by the 1948 Genocide
Convention.
23. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Apartheid
against the Mexicano People living within these occupied territories, as
recognized by the 1973 Apartheid Convention.
24. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the most fundamental human rights of the Mexicano People
living within these occupied territories, as recognized by the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two aforementioned United
Nations Human Rights Covenants of 1966.
25. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the 1965 Racism Convention against the Mexicano People
living within these occupied territories.
26. The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right
of the Mexicano People living within these occupied territories to
self-determination, as recognized by the United Nations Charter, the two
United Nations Human Rights Covenants of 1966, customary international
law, and jus cogens.
27. Since the militarily-imposed division of the Mexican State, the
Defendant and its agents have militarily occupied other portions of the
Mexican State, have sought to influence the outcome of the Mexican
Revolution of 1910, have practiced a consistent pattern of intervention
into Mexico's internal affairs, all of which have resulted in the
arresting distortion and deformation of the Mexican social and economic
order. In this regard, Defendant's so-called North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) constitutes nothing more than an attempt to impose its
hegemonial imperialism, economic colonialism, and human exploitation
upon the People and State of Mexico.
28. The Defendant has illegally refused to apply the United Nations
Decolonization Resolution of 1960 to the Mexicano People and to these
occupied territories that they inhabit. Pursuant thereto, the Defendant
has an absolute international legal obligation to decolonize both the
Mexican occupied territories and the Republic of Mexico immediately, and
to transfer all powers it currently exercises there to the Mexicano
People.
The People and State of Puerto Rico
29. Since its illegal invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, the Defendant has
perpetrated innumerable Crimes against Peace, Crimes against Humanity
and War Crimes against the People and State of Puerto Rico as recognized
by the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles.
30. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Genocide
against the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1948 Genocide
Convention.
31. The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Apartheid
against the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1973 Apartheid
Convention.
32. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the most fundamental human rights of the Puerto Rican
People as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights
and the two aforementioned United Nations Human Rights Covenants of
1966.
33. The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of
violations of the 1965 Racism Convention against the Puerto Rican
People.
34. The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right
of the Puerto Rican People to self-determination as recognized by the
United Nations Charter, the two United Nations Human Rights Covenants of
1966, customary international law, and jus cogens.
35. The Defendant has illegally refused to apply the United Nations
Decolonization Resolution of 1960 to Puerto Rico. Pursuant thereto, the
Defendant has an absolute international legal obligation to decolonize
Puerto Rico immediately and to transfer all powers it currently
exercises there to the Puerto Rican People.
36. The Defendant has illegally refused to accord full-scope protections
as Prisoners-of-War to captured Puerto Rican independence fighters in
violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol
I thereto of 1977. The Defendant's treatment of captured Puerto Rican
independence fighters as common criminals and terrorists constitutes a
grave breach of the Geneva Accords and thus a serious war crime.
An International Criminal Conspiracy and a Criminal Organization
37. In light of the foregoing international crimes, the Defendant
constitutes an International Criminal Conspiracy and a Criminal
Organization in accordance with the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and
Principles and the other sources of public international law specified
above. The Federal Government of the United States of America is legally
identical to the Nazi government of World War II Germany. Indeed, the
Defendant's President, George Bush, has proclaimed a so-called New World
Order that sounds and looks strikingly similar to the New Order
proclaimed by Adolph Hitler over fifty years ago.
Conclusion
Like unto a pirate, the Defendant is hostis humani generis: The enemy of
all humankind! For the good of all humanity, this Tribunal must condemn
and repudiate the Federal Government of the United States of America and
its grotesque vision of a New World Order that is constructed upon
warfare, bloodshed, violence, criminality, genocide, racism,
colonialism, apartheid, massive violations of fundamental human rights,
and the denial of the international legal right of self-determination to
the Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living in North America and
elsewhere around the world. Consequently, this Tribunal must find the
Defendant guilty as charged on all of the counts specified above beyond
a reasonable doubt. This Tribunal must also issue an Order that formally
proscribes the Federal Government of the United States of America as an
International Criminal Conspiracy and a Criminal Organization. This
Tribunal must also issue a separate Order mandating the dissolution of
the Federal Government of the United States of America as a legal and
political entity. Finally, this Tribunal must declare that international
legal sovereignty over the Territories principally inhabited by the
Native American Peoples, the New Afrikan People, the Mexicano People,
and the People of Puerto Rico resides, respectively, in the hands of
these Peoples Themselves. The very lives, well-being, health, welfare,
and safety of the Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living in
North America and elsewhere around the world depend upon the ultimate
success of your deliberations.
Respectfully submitted by,
FRANCIS A. BOYLE
PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR
Dated: September 18, 1992
University of Illinois College of Law
504 East Pennsylvania
Champaign, IL 61820
217-333-7954
See USA on Trial: The International Tribunal on Indigenous Peoples'and
Oppressed Nations in the United States. The Book and Verdict are
available from Editorial El Coqui, 1671 N. Claremont,Chicago Illinois
60647. Or you can try calling the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in
Chicago at 312-342-4295. The Video can be obtained from Mission Creek
Video, PO Box 411271 San Francisco CA 941141 (phone:415-695-0931).
