Rejected by US courts, Onondaga Nation take centuries-old land rights case to international panel

By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press

ONONDAGA NATION TERRITORY (AP) — The Onondaga Nation has protested for centuries that illegal land grabs shrunk their territory from a 2.5 million acre expanse in upstate New York to a relatively paltry patch of land south of Syracuse. They took their case to President George Washington, to Congress and, more recently, to federal court. All failed. So now the Onondaga Nation is presenting its case to an international panel. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recently agreed to hear its claim that the land was taken improperly by New York state. The Onondagas hope the case brings them closer to negotiations with the government to return some land.