INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COUNCIL (IITC) STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY
WITH HICKORY GROUND TRIBAL TOWN (OCEVPOFV)
Presented in Atlanta, Georgia on September 24th, 2024 by IITC Board member
Band Chief Rodney Factor, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

Estonko. The International Indian Treaty Council stands in firm and unwavering
support of the Mekkos of Hickory Ground Tribal Town (Ocevpofv) and the
Muskogee (Creek) Nation. We continue to support their ongoing struggle to heal
their sacred traditional burial grounds in Alabama from the desecration that has
taken place, and to return their ancestors’ remains to their original resting place.

As an organization representing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Nations at the
United Nations for the past 50 years, we have presented in various UN Bodies
about the failure of the United States to uphold its human rights obligations in this
matter. The United States government is obligated by its commitment to respect
and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. Article 12 states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest,
practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and
ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their
religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial
objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.”

We are here today to express our ongoing support for this struggle for human
rights, healing, and justice on the occasion of the oral arguments that will take
place on September 25th, 2024 at the United States Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit here in Atlanta. We join our prayers with all the other prayers
being offered here so that this hearing will support justice for Hickory Ground.
Justice will only be achieved by restoring and ensuring permanent protection for
this sacred ancestral resting place in its original location.

Thank you for all you have done to uphold these inherent rights for Ocevpofv and
for all other Indigenous Peoples who have also suffered disrespect and
desecrations of their sacred places and burial grounds. We will continue to stand
with you as you continue to call for healing and justice. Mvto.

Trabajando por el reconocimiento y los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas
Trabajando por los Derechos y el Reconocimiento de los Pueblos Indígenas