Gray Kinnier
94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 190
Under international law, Indigenous peoples have the right to the return of their human remains. More broadly, multiple international human rights tribunals have recognized the general human right to the return of the remains of a loved one or family member. In the United States, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (“NAGPRA”) governs the return of the bodies of Indigenous peoples under the control of museums or government agencies. Although NAGPRA has been useful in facilitating the return of some cultural artifacts and human remains to associated Indigenous peoples, it has failed to cover a critical category: the cemeteries of former residential schools. In light of the sordid history of thousands of Indigenous children being forcibly sent to off-reservation boarding schools and in order to effectuate NAGPRA’s broad statutory intent and bring the United States into compliance with international human rights law, this Note proposes to amend NAGPRA. The Act should be amended to explicitly include government-controlled cemeteries within its statutory mandate, thereby reaching the resting places of children buried at the sites of former residential schools. Furthermore, the Act should be amended to reach the graves of students not currently under the control of a federal agency but who were in the care of the federal government at the time of their death. Finally, a purpose statement should be added to NAGPRA to express the congressional policy of compliance with international law, namely the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
