Law professor to speak
on land rights struggle
The Mayagna Indians’ lawsuit
against the Nicaraguan
government stopped the sale
of land used for fanning
Jody Burruss
Environment/Science/Technology Reporter
Dr. Lottie Cunningham Wren, a
Nicaraguan lawyer, law professor
and Miskito Indian, will present
the full story of the struggle for
land rights by the Mayagna Indians
at 7 p.m. tomorrow in 175 Knight
Law Center.
This presentation is a part of the
“Human Rights for ALL” program, or
ganized by Professor Svitlana
Kravchenko and hosted by the law
school.The film “Children of the Sun”
will be shown at the presentation, giv
ing background about the land the
Mayagna are reclaiming, their culture
and beliefs, and the relationship the
people have with the land.
Land is very important to the cul
ture, religion and customs of the
Mayagna people. The land is consid
ered sacred and is treated with great
respect. When the Nicaraguan gov
ernment wanted to sell logging con
cessions, the Mayagna people were
strongly opposed, and they filed a
lawsuit to
stop the sale.
The
Mayagna
people use a
lot of the
land sur
rounding the
areas where
they live.
When mem
bers of their
community
go out to
hunt, they may take a 15-day trip to
ensure they are not overusing the re
sources in one area.
They use different parts of the
land for farming, religion, medici
Cunningham
lawyer
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nal purposes, burial, hunting and
fishing.Cunningham said that west
ern farmers are coming in and cut
ting down areas they would use to
get medicine. This is one of the hu
man rights for which Cunningham
is fighting.
“Human rights is a term often
used to mean only political free
doms,” said Dr. Kravchenko, who
will be giving opening remarks at the
presentation tomorrow night.
“But social, economic and envi
ronmental rights are equally impor
tant,” she said.
In 2001, the Mayagna people won
their suit in the Inter-American
Court, and they are now engaged in
negotiations for a demarcation of
traditional lands.
While the court ruled that the
state must carry out the demarca
tion and titling of the land within 15
months, it has done nothing so far.
Cunningham became involved
with this case to help the indige
nous people get the rights they de
serve. She felt connected with
these people.
“I am an indigenous woman,”
she said.
"Human rights is a tem
often used to mean only
political freedoms "
Dr. Kravchenko
title
This community didn’t have the
resources to fight for their rights
because they are so poor, Cunning
ham said. Also, many community
members are illiterate. Cunning
ham helped organize workshops
in the community to keep the peo
ple informed and to come up with
conflict resolutions.
She then acted as a mediator to
make sure the community was rep
resented in negotiations with the
government. However, the govern
ment tried to make deals with the
community leaders behind her
back, she said.
The decision of this court case is
a victory not only for the Mayagna
Indians, but also for human rights
in general.
“This kind of leadership is what
saves the world,” environmental law
Professor John Bonine said.
Contact the reporter
atjodyburruss@dailyemerald.com.
News Brief
Lab will charge
paper fee
Starting Tuesday, printing in the
EMU computer lab will cost 5 cents
per sheet.
In the past, students could print
as many pages as they wanted for
free. But with paper usage rising 50
percent each year, the lab must be
gin charging students for the pages
they print, EMU lab manager Amy
McCoy said.
“The word got out that we were
free,” she said.
McCoy said that the lab tried to
get money from the technology fee
fund — collected from students —
but were denied at the meeting last
spring. This left it no choice but to
begin charging.
When students print at the lab,
they will have to swipe their stu
dent ID before their print job is re
leased. There are several locations
where students can put Campus
Cash on their cards. McCoy said
they are also working on an online
option for payment.
The lab also hopes that charging
students to print will help reduce
waste paper — which is already
happening because of the card
swiping process.
“We’ve cut back on waste amaz
ingly,” McCoy said.
McCoy said they are willing
to hear comments and suggestions
from students at mccoy@oregon.
uoregon.edu.
— Jody Burruss
Fire
continued from page 1
states battling blazes. Recruits were
brought in from Canada, Australia
and New Zealand to help Oregon
crews, Huntington said.
In addition to weather condi
tions, forest management practices
also played a role in the severity of
these fires.
Many forest lands have been
managed under a fire exclusion pol
icy, whichrequires all fires be put
out rather than allowed to burn.
The forests usually have several
small fires to get rid of debris
rather than a few mega-fires, which
are much more destructive.
The policy caused flammable
material to accumulate, Huntington
said. Without occasional fires de
creasing the fuel load, dead plant
debris piles up, becoming dry and
extremely easy to ignite. “The envi
ronment is somewhat dependent
on fire,” Huntington said. Also, ar
eas that have been burned in the
past or infested with insects were
not salvaged, creating an even hefti
er fuel load.
“American public lands have un
dergone radical changes in the last
century due to the suppression of
fires and a lack of active forest and
rangeland management,” United
States Forest Service spokeswoman
Heidi Valetkevitch said.
If passed, the Healthy Forests Ini
tiative will increase controlled
burns, expediting fuels reduction
projects. It would also remove im
posed procedural requirements for
Forest Service appeals, making it
harder for many groups to appeal
logging decisions. The plan may
also strengthen efforts to fulfill the
1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which
was designed to protect habitat and
recreational areas while sustainably
harvesting timber.
The Sierra Club is one group that
strongly opposes the initiative. Paul
Shively, Sierra Club’s regional rep
resentative in Portland, objects to
the HFI because he feels it has
more to do with logging than with
forest health or protection.
“This is a forest industry dream
bill,” he said.
SC issued a press release saying
the bill fails to adequately protect
communities from fires, guts im
portant environmental protections
and increases destructive logging
practices.
Although both federal agencies
and environmental groups want to
decrease the acreage burned in fu
ture blazes, they have different
ideas about how to do it.
“We all have different science
and goals,” Huntington said. But
in the end, he said the desired re
sult is the same. “We all want
healthy forests.”
SC has constructed its own strat
egy called the seven point plan.
Parts of the club’s plan include
more controlled burning, preserv
ing forest safeguards and protect
ing ancient and wild forests
from logging.
More information about the Sier
ra Club’s seven-point plan is avail
able at its Web site, sierraclub.org.
For more information about the
president’s Healthy Forest Initia
tive, visit www.usda.gov.
Contact the reporter
atjodyburruss@dailyemerald.com.
Riot
continued from page 1
Currently, the city has no agree
ment that would allow it to bill the
University. And without any admis
sion of responsibility, it’s unlikely the
University could be held accountable
for the actions of its students.
“Essentially, (University officials)
are not allowing that they have any
responsibility,” Carlson said. “They
are assuming that the students in
volved in this activity are students
of the city of Eugene.”
Torrey concurred, saying he’d like
to see the University help the city in
the aftermath, but acknowledged the
city can’t take legal action.
In the meantime, EPD Chief
of Police Thad Buchanan said detec
tives will continue searching for in
dividuals involved in last week’s riot.
Police have enhanced videos to
use as a tool for prosecutorial evi
dence. Detectives have not yet at
tempted to contact individuals
about the riot, but Buchanan said
the time has nearly come.
“Participants involved that night
that wish to voluntarily come for
ward and cooperate with the police
will be released on a citation — they
will not be taken to jail,” Buchanan
said. “However, we cannot make
that promise to individuals who are
contacted and charged as a result of
our investigation.”
"If you know of the
people who were
involved, tell us who
they are and we will
make sure they are
brought to justice "
Jim Torrey
Mayor of Eugene
In addition to voluntary confes
sions, city officials said they are
seeking help from the community.
“If you know of people who were
involved, tell us who they are and
we will make sure they are brought
to justice,” Torrey said. “And if, in
fact, they didn’t do anything
wrong, hopefully nothing will hap
pen to them.”
Meanwhile, EPD will essentially
reinstate its “Party Patrol” to satu
rate the neighborhoods surrounding
the University in an attempt to pre
vent more chaos.
The increased patrols — which
will be used mainly to preserve a
“no tolerance” policy on alcohol vi
olations — will cost the city sub
stantial amounts in overtime pay. In
past years, the patrol cost taxpayers
between $6,000 and $10,000 per
weekend, Buchanan said.
Torrey also suggested the creation
of a “buffer zone” that would sur
round the University. Torrey said
penalties for alcohol and riot-relat
ed offenses should be doubled with
in the zone.
“There needs to be a sanction
that will get the attention of the peo
ple that are committing these
crimes,” Torrey said.
Finally, city officials said they
hope the University will take steps
to adapt their student code of con
duct to apply to activities that occur
off campus.
“I’m going to take the position that
the University is going to openly
work with us,” Torrey said. “We are
going to find a way to deal with this.”
■w
Contact the senior news reporter
at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com.