Indigenous Peoples right to Self-determination, Sovereignty, & Treaty Rights
The Haudenosaunee is a federation of six original nations in North America: from East to West – the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora, also known as the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a constitutional democracy that has existed long before the creation of Canada and the United States of America. Over a thousand years ago on the shores of Onondaga Lake, in present day central New York, democracy was born, making ours one of the world’s earliest and longest functioning democracies. We are governed by an ancient constitution known as Gayanashagowa, the Great Law of Peace, complete with a sophisticated system of checks and balances, our system influenced the early government of the United States as confirmed in a 1988 United States Senate resolution (H.CON.RES.331) which recognized Haudenosaunee influence on the US constitution. The Haudenosaunee continue to maintain our traditional governance structure and we have never sold or otherwise relinquished our lands or sovereignty rights.
AILA has been involved with dialogue with the various member state nations within the United Nations and other bodies of the UN over the decades and with the League of Nations before the UN existed to assert the rights of sovereignty for all Indigenous Nations .The Haudenosaunee have maintained these nation-to-nation relationships as an expression of our exercise of our right to self-determination and our position has always been that we are equal to all peoples and nations.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy continues to operate under their own set of laws as best they can in order to push forward traditional law and understanding for the benefit of the seventh generation to come. This type of exercise of our right to self-determination is affirmed in Article 4 of the UNDRIP. American Indian Law Alliance works to support the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and other Indigenous Nations rights to self determination and self-advocacy.