UN envoy calls Trump executive order on Standing Rock “regrettable”

Victoria Tauli-Corupuz, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s decision to issue an executive order to resume construction of the Dakota Access pipeline was “regrettable.”

Tauli-Corupuz, who is charged with looking into specific cases of violations of the rights of indigenous peoples around the world, said the new administration had acted rashly.

“That kind of decision has to be consulted with indigenous people themselves,” she said.

For the past year, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe as well as other Native American tribes have protested the rerouting of the oil pipeline, which they fear could have a devastating environmental impact. In December, the army corps of engineers decided not to approve the plans for the pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. But Trump’s decision means construction on the pipeline could resume.

Leslie Malezer, a member of the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues, who also spoke at the panel at UN headquarters in New York, said the fight over the Dakota Access pipeline is not over.

“The struggle will continue and has the full support of the international mechanisms to their right to have a say about such developments,” he said.

The hour-long briefing also touched on laws passed by local and national governments cracking down on protesters. In North Dakota, lawmakers will soon vote on a bill that would legalize accidentally running over a protester on the road.

“It’s really not consistent with human rights law, but I also find it immoral,” Tauli-Corupuz said of the bill. “How can you justify running over or violently treating a protester?”

Tauli-Corupuz is going on an official visit to the United States on February 22nd, where she’ll visit the Standing Rock Indian reservation as well as meeting with White House and State department officials. She’s also planning to bring up the pipeline in a future meeting with UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who was sworn in on Wednesday.

“I hope that is going to happen soon,” she said.