Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
The Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a Dear Tribal Leader Letter announcing Tribal consultations on the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act. The STOP Act was enacted by Congress in November 2021 and aims to prevent the international export of cultural items prohibited from trafficking under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the Archeological Resources Protection Act. DOI is hosting Tribal consultations to seek Tribal Nation input on the development of draft regulations to implement the STOP Act.
Details regarding the upcoming virtual Tribal consultations on the STOP Act are as follows—
Date/Time: Thursday, July 27, 2023 from 2:30pm to 4:30pm ET
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm ET
Prior to its enactment, USET SPF supported passage of the STOP Act and sent letters of support to Leadership of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on June 22, 2020, and to the Leadership of the House Committee on Natural Resources on May 19, 2021. USET also adopted USET Resolution No. 2015:007, “Support for the International Repatriation of Ancestral Remains and Cultural Items”, which condemns the human rights violation of withholding our ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony abroad.
To view a set of Framing Questions for the upcoming DOI STOP Act Tribal consultations, please view the Dear Tribal Leader Letter. Written comments are due by Friday, August 25, 2023 and can be submitted to consultation@bia.gov. Questions should be directed to Samuel Kohn, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, at samuel.kohn@bia.gov; Joaquin Gallegos, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, at joaquin_gallegos@bia.gov; or Rachel Brown, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary-Policy, Management, and Budget, at rachel_brown@bia.gov.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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