# Proposed Constitution for the

> Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more.

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Aomaha_of_nebraska%3A4efe32dd58a2d2f9

## Record

- **Collection:** Tribal code
- **Document type:** Tribal code

## Text

Proposed Constitution for the

N

Tapa’
Deer

Teçinde

Inkedezhide

Buffalo Tail

Red Buffalo Calf

Monthinkagaxe
Earthmaker

Inshtaçunda
Flashing
Eyes

Insha’cunda:
Sky People

W

Path to the Sun

E

Hongashenu:

n

Ko çe

Earth People

Wind

We’zhinshte
Elk

Inkeçabe

Black Shoulder

Tha’tada
Small Bird

S

Honga

First There
OTHRP Archives

I

History of this Constitution

n 2017 The Omaha Tribal Historical Research Project, Inc. was asked by
representatives of a committee of Elders to create a new Constitution for the
Umonhon Nation in order to resolve problems that the 1934 Constitution did not
foresee for the 21st century. After consulting with legal experts and researching
what other indigenous people have created globally, as well as researching what
has been documented in the past by Dr. Francis La Flesche, Esq., we have come
up with a viable Constitution that is uniquely Umonhon.
It is based upon the Ecuadorian Constitution which is based upon the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. OTHRP believes
that using this draft Constitution as a framework it can be built upon by the People and the Umonhon Nation can grow into a healthier lifestyle, enabling the People to preserve their culture, history and language, as well as developing a new
century technological structure based upon renewable resources, healing both the
Land and the People.
This proposal is simply a DRAFT.
It can be adapted to the concerns of the Peo
A special Wi’bthaha

n

to both

Charles Baxter and Joe Harlan
for their contributions both written and oral to OTHRP
in the development of this proposal for a Constitution

Canoe and Sun

Giffen and Tibbles, Ibid., p. 52

255

Peyote Prayer

Calvin Tyndall, OTHRP Archives

INTRODUCTION

T

he following Proposed Constitution is a DRAFT, a
document “not set in stone” by any intent or
means. Its purpose is to serve as a guide, a framework to define sovereignty as a Culture, People and
Nation, working toward true independence among a
global community of nations. This may seem too much
a task for only 7,000 enrolled tribal members, but
within this construct is a process of social, economic,
cultural and political adaptability much more traditional
than that offered by Colonialist dictates.
Umonhon lands once stretched halfway from the Des
Moines River to the near-middle of Sandhill Country
Coffey, OTHRP Archives
from east to west. North and south extended from
above the current Iowa/South Dakota/Minnesota border past the salt marshes of
Lincoln to include portions of Kansas and Missouri, about 14 million acres situated
primarily in the present states of western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
Going Home

All these lands were ceded between 1815 to 1854 during the imposed Treaty era
of the United States to the present external boundaries of the Reservation,
roughly a 20 mile wide-to-30 mile-in-length swarth of about 330,000 acres. This
itself was further split by one-third in 1865, when the U.S. offered under THEIR
1787 “Constitution” two Treaties to these pitiful Indigenous Nations, one favorable to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and a separate but different Treaty providing
different conditions in relation to the Ho-Chunk, favorable to the Umonhon.
This proposed Draft Constitution is based foundationally upon a 21st Century interpretation by OTHRP of ancestrally-derived governance of the Umonhon, as provided primarily by Frances La Flesche in The Omaha Tribe. it also includes material and thoughts taken from other historic sources as well. The contemporary
model presented here is drawn from a Constitution
adopted by the South American country of Ecuador in
2007. This was utilized only as a framework, and is not
to be construed as a “copy.” The text was carefully
honed to conform to a language that would be recognized uniformly as “legal” by all nations of the world,
but in simple enough terms to be understood by anyone with a high school education.

Snow Trillium, Coffey
OTHRP Archives

Because this is a proposal and not as yet a legal document, in addition to its legal text the current draft has
two forms of explanatory text included within the Constitutional framework that provides for the People the
basis for understanding the importance of the proposed
Article or Section. This first form, which serves an edu257

cational role that OTHRP believes is crucial for a People that have had their own
history and governance forcibly taken from them, to reclaim that history and
governance for future generations. This novel approach to formal Constitutional
construction may seem out-of-place by many, if not most legal reviewers and
“experts,” but it must be noted that such documents as this Constitution are in
actuality a reverse concept to the Hu’thuga [Tribal Circle] itself, and it is a necessity
in today’s world which is an odious imposition upon the People to begin with. In
other words: for the Umonhon, even a Constitution is the WRONG approach. However, it is recognized that in the 21st Century it is of necessity to achieve true independence and freedom from Colonialist rule. Upon rare occasions there is offered in small type a second form of explanatory text or a footnote that provides
a context for either the ideas or language used, but would not necessarily be included in the final Constitution as presented to the People for passage.

Feathering the Four Hills, Coffey, OTHRP Archives
258

PROPOSED

Constitution
for the

Umonhon Nation: Nebraska — Iowa

W

PREAMBLE

e, the women and men, of the sovereign people of the Umo nhon Nation: Nebraska — Iowa, situated among ancestral Reservation lands of the United
States of America, of which Nebraska and Iowa are a part, in order to stop the
impact of more than 500 years of continuing historic trauma by a corrupt system
manipulated and controlled by the dominate culture around us; are creating a
new form of government based upon traditional Umonhon values, which include
respect for all forms of life: the two legged, the four legged, those that walk,
those that fly, those that crawl, those that swim, those who live underground as
well as the soil that provides, the air that sustains and water that gives all, life.*
This Constitution sets forth a comprehensive business plan to create, regulate
and nourish the structure upon which to base the future of the Umonhon Nation:
Nebraska — Iowa. Such structure will cover the necessary education of our
people so they can create and take charge of their own institutions within their
tribal boundaries as determined by Umonhon/U.S. Treaties and codified by U.S.
Laws. This will include all land that may be acquired beyond the date of this document. This Constitution cancels all previous constitutions, and is in compliance
with the Act of the U.S. Congress, dated June 18, 1934, known as the Indian Reorganization Act [48 Stat. 984], until such time as the Umonhon Nation is free and
independent as a true sovereign state among the community of nations.
This Constitution shall apply to the territory within the present confines of the
Umonhon Reservation as created and defined by the 1854 Treaty Boundaries, codified by law [577, Docket No. 14-1406 Nebraska vs. Parker, U.S. Supreme Court, March 22,
2016], and includes the Blackbird Bend addition of 1988, as well as the portion of
the Missouri River and its tributaries that flow within these boundaries and any
future air, land and water that may be added to the Umonhon Reservation. According to treaty rights, the Umonhon own the land one foot below from the surface soil, and the air space up to the sky as far as can be seen over all of the land
the Umonhon originally owned, including the Reservation lands. These rights and
the water rights were never sold or given away.
*To say that animals are sentient is to state explicitly that they can experience both positive and
negative emotions, including pain and distress,” said Dr Virginia Williams, chair of the National
Animal Ethics Advisory Committee, New Zealand.
July 6, 2019

Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D., and his students at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, researched the Gunnison's prairie dogs Alarm Calls for over 30 years to decode their language.
Sonograms of all 5 species of prairie dogs suggest that they would not understand each other
and each species has their own language. Each species also has Regional and Local Dialects.
May 17, 2013

Prairie dog squeaks convey information. They can describe a human being entering their village
by their size on down to the very color of the clothes that they wear.

259

Reservation Hills Jeff Mohr, OTHRP Archives

LAND

U

monhon tribal member and former mayor of Pender, NE, Thomas Sloan, Esq.
rightfully argued that there was no such thing as a partial citizenship. One is
either a citizen or not a citizen; there is no such thing as a partial citizen. The
same applies to land. As a citizen, one either owns the land or not.
Historically the trust relationship over land usage was broken long before the ink
was formally signed. The stealing of Umonhon lands by the Euro-Americans was
and continues to be horrific. The thieving role of the Indian Agent was replaced,
but not changed, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]. The policy continued on,
unchanged: buy it for cheap and if it is not for sale, rent it and ruin it. The monies are mishandled by the United States Government and the Indigenous American sees very little of it, if any. Billions of Aboriginal American monies have been
misplaced by the BIA and never found, replaced or otherwise compensated for
what was legally and rightfully belonging to Native America, the Umonhon included. All monies owed to the Umonhon by the U.S. Government ranging from land
sales to underfunded programs will be paid promptly [created by a Billionaire
tax]. Such monies will go into a special fund for restoring the land and waters ruined by their policies forced upon the Umonhon.
As a sovereign nation, the Umonhon own — indisputably — all the reservation
land. Not only by Treaty law but also codified by the U.S. Supreme Court, as noted above. The Umonhon are currently in the unique position of being land owners
that have no right to determine who rents their land, or to fire renters that misuse the land or to determine how it will be used. Renters have even illegally
charged rent for lands they do not own without consultation with the rightful
owners. As a result, most of the land is under Euro-American control with pittance paid to the actual owners. As a sovereign nation the Umonhon must take
control of their own lands. All land sales within the 1854 boundary must be registered with the Umonhon Nation and made available to the public. The damaging
policies end with this Constitution.

DIVISION 1: LAND
SECTION 1: Umonhon Territory
ARTICLE 1. This Constitution completely and totally rejects the so-called "right
of discovery" that was issued by the Catholic Church in 1493. That Papal
Bull was repudiated by Pope Frances in the 21st century. The EuroAmerican has claimed their right under this erroneous belief in order to
exploit and punish Native America for over 500 years. It ends for the
Umonhon with this Constitution.
ARTICLE 2. This Constitution shall apply to the territory within the present confines of the ancestral land defined by and established within the external
boundaries of a Reservation designated as such, and imposed upon the
Umonhon through the 1854 Treaty with the U.S., and to any and all fu262

ture additions of land acquired within or without said boundary lines as
set by Treaty.
ARTICLE 3. This includes the Ni'shude Ke [Missouri River] which according to the
treaties was never "sold." Since the Umonhon own land on both sides of
this river, this Constitution declares the personhood of the Ni'shude Ke
and all its life forms within. As such, it will receive all the rights and privileges accorded to a person. Ni'shude Ke's enrollment as a formal
member of the Umonhon Nation becomes effective at the acceptance of
this Constitution.
1. Four tribal members, two from each division consisting of one
male and one female each division, will serve as Keeper oversight and advisors to articulate the needs of Ni'shude Ke.
2. These Ni'shude Ke Keepers will serve for four (4) years and will
be replaced by election within the clans of the division in such a
manner that each clan will serve in this compacity over a twenty
(20) year period.
ARTICLE 4. Umonhon Nation land has been badly damaged by questionable agricultural practices. Rented or leased Umonhon land cannot be abused for
feedlots, over-grazing, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Any land so
mistreated by Euro-Americans or anyone else will negate any rent or
sale record and be returned to the Umonhon Nation. Healing practices
must be used to restore the damage that has been done in the past to
Umonhon land and work should be aimed at restoring an organic certification to all farmlands and wilderness areas.
ARTICLE 5. Pipelines for caustic chemicals will be slowly eliminated as the world
phases out such toxic oil/gas dependency and into healthier climate
compatible lifestyles utilizing solar, wind, geothermic power and other
renewable technologies. Railroads will pay rental to the Umonhon Nation
for their use of Umonhon Nation lands as it is written in the U. S. treaties.
High Power electrical lines will also pay rental charges to the Umo nhon.
No non-Umonhon businesses will be allowed that damage Umonhon Nation lands or sacred grounds. All businesses must undergo an Umo nhon
Nation investigation of environmental impact. Sacred lands and
gravesites must be restored and protected. Lands leased to Railroad
companies that were then sold to settlers in violation of the treaties will
be restored to the Umonhon Nation as trust land.
SECTION 2: Allotted and Heirship Lands
ARTICLE 6. Umonhon Allotted lands, including heirship lands, within the external
boundaries of the 1854 Treaty-designated lands shall continue to be
held as heretofore by their present owners. It is recognized that under
existing law with the U.S. as “Trust,” such lands may be condemned for
public purposes, such as roads, public buildings or other public improve263

ments at the request of any agency of the State of Nebraska (NE) or of
the U.S. Federal government upon payment of adequate compensation,
to the Umonhon Nation, the final determination of same in such condemnation of land at the sole discretion of the Umonhon Nation. It is further
recognized that, under existing law, such ancestral lands may be inherited by the heirs of the present owner, whether or not they are enrolled
members of the Umonhon Nation. The right of the individual Indian to
hold or to lose this ancestral land, as under existing law, shall not be abrogated by anything contained in this Constitution, but the owner of restricted ancestral land may voluntarily convey his ancestral land to the
Umonhon Nation either in exchange for a monetary payment or in exchange for an assignment covering the same ancestral land or other
land, as hereinafter provided.
ARTICLE 7. A Weigh-Station will be erected on each major highway to prevent
over-weight trucks from tearing up the highways on the reservation.
ARTICLE 8. The Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council may consolidate inherited land holdings
by purchase, exchange, transfer, gift or voluntary relinquishment; this
includes the power to reassign such ancestral land in the public interest.
SECTION 3: Ancestral Tribal lands of the Umonhon Nation
ARTICLE 9. Ancestral Tribal lands of the Umonhon Nation and all lands which
may hereafter be acquired by the Umonhon Nation or by the U.S. in trust
for the Umonhon Nation shall be held as ancestral Tribal lands, and no
part of such ancestral lands shall be mortgaged or sold, except as provided within this Constitution under present existing law, until such laws
through this Constitution are changed.
ARTICLE 10. Ancestral Tribal lands shall not be allotted to individual tribal People, but such ancestral tribal lands as are not required for school, agency, or other administrative uses may be assigned by the Ni’kagahi xu’de:
Council to members of the Umonhon Nation, or may be leased or otherwise used by the Nation as hereinafter provided for. These lands must be
used in a manner that causes the least amount of damage to the land itself.
ARTICLE 11. Ancestral Tribal lands may be leased by the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council.
Preference shall be given, first, to Indigenous cooperative associations,
and secondly, to individual Aboriginals who are members of the Umo nhon
Nation. No lease of ancestral Tribal lands to a non-member shall be
made by the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council unless it shall appear that no Native
cooperative association or individua member of the Umonhon Nation is able
and willing to use the land and to pay a reasonable fee for such use.
SECTION 4: Exchange Assignment

ARTICLE 12. If any person holding a standard assignment of either ancestral or
other lands shall, for a period of two (2) years, fail to use the land so as264

signed or shall use the land for any unlawful purpose, their assignment
may be canceled by the Ni’kagahi xu’de Council after due notice and opportunity to be heard. Such land may then be available for reassignment.
Upon the death of any tribal member holding a standard assignment,
their heirs or other individuals designated by said tribal member by written request shall have preference in the reassignment of the land, provided such persons are eligible to receive a standard assignment.
ARTICLE 13. Any member of the Umonhon Nation who owns an allotment of either ancestral and other lands or any share in heirship land or any deeded land, may voluntarily transfer their interest in such land to the Umo nhon Nation, receiving in return a certificate of interest representing its
present market value, and an assignment in the same land or other land
of equal value, or they may receive a proportionate share in a unit of
agricultural grazing or other land. Assignments made under this Section
shall be known as “exchange assignments.”
ARTICLE 14. Exchange assignments may be used by the assignee or leased by
them to Indigenous cooperative associations, to individual members of
the Umonhon Nation or, if no individual Aboriginal or Native cooperative
association is able and willing to lease the ancestral or other lands at a
reasonable fee, such assignments may be leased to non-tribal people in
the same manner as allotted lands.
ARTICLE 15. Upon the death of a holder of an exchange assignment, such either
ancestral and other lands shall be reassigned by the Ni’kagahi xu’de
Council to his heirs or devisees, subject to the following conditions:
1. Such lands may not be reassigned to any heir or devisee who
is not a member of the Umonhon Nation, except that a life assignment may be made to the surviving spouse or child of the
holder of such assignment.
2. Such lands may not be reassigned to any heir or devisee who
already owns or holds more than an economic unit of land.
Such economic unit of land shall be determined by the
Ni’kagahi xu’de Council.
3. Such land may not be subdivided into units too small for practical use. The Ni’kagahi xu’de Council shall determine the practical subdivision of the land in each case. If the land cannot be
properly subdivided, the Ni’kagahi xu’de Council may issue to
such heir a proportionate share in other lands or other interests
in land of equal value.
4. If there are no eligible heirs of the decedent, the land shall be
eligible for reassignment, the same as other ancestral Tribal
lands, and other lands.
265

ARTICLE 16. Improvements of any character made upon assigned ancestral and
other lands may be willed to and inherited by members of the Umonhon
Nation. When fair division of improvements is not possible, the Ni’kagahi
xu’de: Council shall dispose of them under such regulations as it may
provide for the benefit of such heirs. No permanent improvements may
be removed from any ancestral Tribal or assigned land without the consent of the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council.
SECTION 5: Occupancy
ARTICLE 17. No member of the Umonhon Nation may use or occupy ancestral
Tribal lands except under an assignment or lease.
SECTION 6: Unassigned Land
ARTICLE 18. Unassigned land whether ancestral and other lands shall be managed by Ni’kagahi xu’de Council.
SECTION 7: Acquiring land for Tribe
ARTICLE 19. Available Umonhon Nation funds may be used to acquire land for
the Umonhon Nation.
SECTION 8: Final Decision
ARTICLE 20. The right to determine the amount of land and make assignments
to each lawful assignee shall vest in the Ni’kagahi xu’de Council, whose
decision shall be subject to the final approval by the National Assembly.
The economic needs of the individual, with due regard to land availability and limitation, together with the principles of justice and equity shall
be the basic factors affecting the decision in land assignments of both
the Ni’kagahi xu’de Council and the National Assembly. The decision of
the National Assembly, as heretofore outlined, shall be final.

DIVISION 2: BIODIVERSITY
AND NATURAL RESOURCES
SECTION 1: Nature and the Environment
ARTICLE 21. The Umonhon Constitution recognizes the following environmental
principles:
1. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee a sustainable model of
development, one that is environmentally balanced and respectful of cultural diversity, conserves biodiversity and the
natural regeneration capacity of ecosystems, and ensures
meeting the needs of present and future generations.
2. Environmental management policies shall be applied cutting
across all sectors and dimensions and shall be mandatorily
enforced by the Umonhon Nation at all of its levels and by all natural persons or legal entities in the Umonhon Nation’s territory.
266

3. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the active and permanent
participation of affected persons, communities, peoples and
nations in the planning, implementation and monitoring of all
activities exerting environmental impacts.
4. In the event of doubt about the scope of legal provisions for
environmental issues, it is the most favorable interpretation
of their effective force for the protection of nature that shall
prevail.
ARTICLE 22. The Umonhon Nation shall adopt timely policies and measures to
avoid adverse environmental impacts where there is certainty about the
damage. In the case of doubt about the environmental impact stemming
from a deed or omission, although there is no scientific evidence of the
damage, the Umonhon Nation shall adopt effective and timely measures
of protection. All damage to the environment, in addition to the respective penalties, shall also entail the obligation of restoring the ecosystems
and compensating the affected persons and communities. Each one of
the players in the processes of production, distribution, marketing and
use of goods or services shall accept direct responsibility for preventing
any environmental impact, for mitigating and repairing the damages
caused, and for maintaining an ongoing environmental monitoring system. The legal proceedings to prosecute and punish those responsible for
environmental damages shall not be subject to any statute of limitations.
ARTICLE 23. In case of environmental damages, the Umonhon Nation shall act
immediately and with a subsidiary approach to guarantee the health and
restoration of ecosystems. In addition to the corresponding sanction, the
Umonhon Nation shall file against the operator of the activity that produced the damage proceedings for the obligations entailing integral reparation, under the conditions and on the basis of the procedures provided for by law. The responsibility shall also pertain to the public servants
responsible for carrying out environmental monitoring. To guarantee the
individual and collective right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, the Umonhon Nation pledges:
1. To permit any natural person or legal entity, human community or group, to file legal proceedings and resort to judicial and
administrative bodies without detriment to their direct interest, to obtain from them effective custody in environmental
matters, including the possibility of requesting precautionary
measures that would make it possible to end the threat or the
environmental damage that is the object of the litigation. The
burden of proof regarding the absence of potential or real
danger shall lie with the operator of the activity or the defendant.
2. To establish effective mechanisms to prevent and control en267

vironmental pollution, restore degraded natural spaces, and
to provide for the sustainable management of natural resources.
3. To regulate the production, import, distribution, use, and final
disposal of materials that are toxic and hazardous to persons
or the environment.
4. To ensure the intangibility of protected natural areas, so as to
guarantee the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecological functions of the ecosystems. The Umonhon Nation shall be in charge of management and administration of protected natural areas.
5. To establish an Umonhon national prevention, risk management
and natural disaster system based on the principles of immediateness, efficiency, precaution, responsibility and solidarity.
ARTICLE 24. All decisions or authorizations that could affect the environment
shall be consulted with the Umonhon community, which shall be informed
fully and on a timely basis. The consulting subject shall be the Umo nhon
Nation. The law shall regulate prior consultation, public participation,
time-limits, the subject consulted and the appraisal and objection criteria
used with regard to the activity that is being submitted to consultation.
The Umonhon Nation shall take into consideration the opinion of the
Umonhon community on the basis of the criteria provided for by law and
international human rights instruments. If the above-mentioned consultation process leads to majority opposition by the respective Umo nhon
community, the decision whether to implement or not the project shall
be adopted by a resolution that is duly substantiated by the corresponding higher administrative body in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 25. The full exercise of Umonhon national guardianship over the environment and joint responsibility of the citizenry for its conservation shall
be articulated by means of a decentralized Umonhon national environmental management system, which shall be in charge of defending the
Umonhon environment and nature.
SECTION 2: Biodiversity
ARTICLE 26. The Umonhon Nation shall exercise sovereignty over biodiversity,
whose administration and management shall be conducted on the basis
of responsibility between generations. The conservation of biodiversity
and all of its components are declared to be of public interest, especially
agricultural and wildlife biodiversity and genetic assets.
ARTICLE 27. Umonhon Nation is working to free ancestral tribal lands and other
lands of transgenic crops and seeds. The application of risky or experimental biotechnologies is forbidden.
ARTICLE 28. The granting of rights, including intellectual property rights, to by268

products or synthetics obtained from collective knowledge associated
with Umonhon national biodiversity is forbidden.
ARTICLE 29. The Umonhon Nation shall not make commitments to cooperation
agreements or accords that include clauses that undermine the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity, human health, collective rights and rights of nature.
SECTION 3: Natural Assets and Ecosystems
ARTICLE 30. The unique and priceless natural assets of the Umonhon Nation include, among others, the physical, biological and geological formations
whose value from the environmental, scientific, cultural or landscape
standpoint requires protection, conservation, recovery and promotion.
Their management shall be subject to the principles and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution and shall be conducted in accordance with
land use planning and ecological zoning, in compliance with the law.
ARTICLE 31. The Umonhon national system of protected areas shall guarantee
the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of ecological functions. The system shall be comprised of National, decentralized autonomous, community and private subsystems, and it shall be directed and
regulated by the Umonhon Nation. The Umonhon Nation shall allocate the
financial resources needed to ensure the system’s financial sustainability
and shall foster the participation of the communities and peoples who
have their ancestral dwelling places in the protected areas in their administration and management. Foreign natural persons or legal entities
will not be able to acquire any land deeds or concessions in areas of national security or protected areas, in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 32. The Umonhon Nation shall regulate the conservation, management
and sustainable use, recovery, and boundaries for the domain of fragile
and threatened ecosystems, including among others, marine ecosystems, wetlands, riverbanks, bottom lands (including river plain and
floodplain), bluffs, timber, dry forests, creeks, streams, steep rolling
hills, valleys, slight hills, plains or prairie and flatland ecosystems.
ARTICLE 33. Activities for the extraction of non-renewable natural resources are
forbidden in protected areas and in areas declared intangible assets, including forestry production. Exceptionally, these resources can be tapped
at the substantiated request of the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council and after a
declaration of Umonhon national interest issued by the Umonhon National
Assembly, which can, if it deems it advisable, convene a referendum.
SECTION 4: Natural Resources
ARTICLE 34. Non-renewable natural resources and, in general, products coming
from the ground, mineral and petroleum deposits, substances whose na-

269

ture is different from that of the soil, including those that are located in
areas covered by territorial river waters and marine zones, as well as biodiversity and its genetic assets and the radio spectrum, are the unalienable property of the Umonhon Nation, immune from seizure and not subject to a statute of limitations. These assets can only be produced in
strict compliance with the environmental principles set forth in the Constitution. The Umonhon Nation shall participate in profits earned from the
tapping of these resources, in an amount that is no less than the profits
earned by the company producing them. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee that the mechanisms for producing, consuming and using natural
resources and energy conserve and restore the cycles of nature and
make it possible to have living conditions marked by dignity.
SECTION 5: Soil
ARTICLE 35. Soil conservation, especially its fertile layer, is a matter of public
interest and Umonhon national priority. A regulatory framework shall be
established for its protection and sustainable use to prevent its degradation, in particular as a result of pollution, desertification, and erosion. In
areas affected by processes of degradation and desertification, the Umonhon Nation shall develop and promote forestation, reforestation, and revegetation projects that avoid single-crop farming and preferably use
native species adapted to the area.
ARTICLE 36. The Umonhon Nation shall provide farmers and rural communities
with support for soil conservation and restoration, as well as for the development of farming practices that protect and promote food sovereignty.
SECTION 6: Water
ARTICLE 37. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the conservation, recovery
and integral management of water resources, watersheds and ecological
flows associated with the water cycle. All activities that can affect the
quality and amount of water and the equilibrium of ecosystems shall be
regulated, especially in water replenishment sources and zones. The sustainability of ecosystems and human consumption shall be priorities in
water use and development.
ARTICLE 38. The Utilities, Agriculture and Wildlife will work together in managing water and shall be responsible for its planning, regulation, and control. This cooperation and coordination of environmental management
will guarantee water management based on an eco-systemic approach.
SECTION 7: Biosphere, Urban Ecology,
and Alternative Sources of Energy
ARTICLE 39. The Umonhon Nation shall adopt adequate and cross-cutting
measures for the mitigation of climate change, by limiting greenhouse
gas emissions, deforestation, and air pollution; it shall take measures for
270

the conservation of the forests and vegetation; and it shall protect the
population at risk.
ARTICLE 40. The Umonhon Nation shall adopt integral and participatory policies for
urban development and land use planning that make it possible to regulate urban growth, manage urban fauna, and promote the establishment
of green areas. Decentralized autonomous governments shall develop
programs for the rational use of water and the adequate treatment of
solid and fluid waste. Non-motorized overland transportation shall be promoted and facilitated, especially with establishment of bike/horse lanes.
ARTICLE 41. The Umonhon Nation shall promote energy efficiency, the development and use of environmentally clean and healthy practices and technologies, as well as diversified and low-impact renewable sources of energy that do not jeopardize food sovereignty, the ecological balance of
the ecosystems or the right to water.

Sacred Road, Coffey, OTHRP Archives
271

A photograph taken 100 years ago of sacred objects used by the Omaha in
a ceremony to bring about friendly relations with other tribes. These objects were held in safekeeping by the Peabody Museum and were returned
to the Omaha people. OTHRP Archives
272

1935

1938

Mrs. George Miller and baby in cradleboard, OTHRP Archives

Coffey, OTHRP Archives

n

n

(above) He’dewachi, (below) Umo ho

family at He’dewachi ca. 1918, Anna Sloan, OTHRP Archives.

Reservation House Jeff Mohr, OTHRP Archives

UMOnHOn PEOPLE
DIVISION 3: Umonhon BILL OF RIGHTS

I

n exercising its powers of self-government, the Umonhon Nation, its agencies,
instrumentalities, and officials shall not:

ARTICLE 42. Make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or
abridging freedom of speech, of the press, or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances.
ARTICLE 43. Violate the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, including all forms of electronic media and storage of same, against unreasonable searches and seizures, nor issue
warrants but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and
particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or thing
to be seized;
ARTICLE 44. Subject any person for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy;
ARTICLE 45. Compel any person in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself;
ARTICLE 46. Take any private property for a public use without just compensation;
ARTICLE 47. Deny to any person in a criminal proceeding the right to a speedy
and public trial, to be informed of the nature and grounds of the charges
against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor, and, at his own expense, to have the assistance of counsel for his
defense;
ARTICLE 48. Require excessive bail, impose excessive fines, inflict cruel and unusual punishments greater than that allowed under Umonhon Nation or
U.S. Federal law, 25 U.S.C. § 1302(7);
ARTICLE 49. Deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its
laws or deprive any person of liberty or property without due process of
law;
ARTICLE 50. Pass a bill of attainder or ex post facto law; or,
ARTICLE 51. Deny to any person accused of any offense punishable by imprisonment the right, upon request, to a trial by jury of not less than six (6)
persons.

277

OTHRP Note: Recently in 2019, it was announced by Facebook and Elon Musk’s
Neuralink that for sometime now both companies had been engaged in developing technology to read your mind — literally.
According to internet media sources Vox and Alternet, Facebook is funding research on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can pick up thoughts directly
from your neurons and translate them into words. The researchers say they’ve
already built an algorithm that can decode words from brain activity in real time.
And Musk’s company has created flexible “threads” that can be implanted into a
brain and could one day allow you to control your smartphone or computer with
just your thoughts. Musk wants to start testing in humans by the end of next year.

Your brain, the final privacy frontier, may not be private much longer.
Neuroethicists argue, however, that the potential for misuse of these technologies is so great that we need revamped human rights laws — a new “jurisprudence of the mind” — to protect us. The technologies have the potential to interfere with rights that are so basic that we may not even think of them as rights,
like our ability to determine where our selves end and machines begin. Our current laws are not equipped to address this. In OTHRP’s view, the Umonhon should
consider adding the following four rights to this constitution:
1. The right to cognitive liberty: You should have the right to freely decide
you want to use a given neurotechnology or to refuse it.
2. The right to mental privacy: You should have the right to seclude your
brain data or to publicly share it.
3. The right to mental integrity: You should have the right not to be
harmed physically or psychologically by neurotechnology.
4. The right to psychological continuity: You should have the right to be
protected from alterations to your sense of self that you did not authorize.
9-2-2019

DIVISION 4: Umonhon CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS
SECTION 1: Citizenship
ARTICLE 52. The Umonhon Nation: Nebraska — Iowa, recognizes dual citizenship
with the United States of America and agrees with the United Nations’
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [See: Appendix p. 392]
ARTICLE 53. The citizenship of the Umonhon Nation shall cover all living persons
whose names appear on the official roll of the Nation, prepared pursuant
to Section 1 of the Congressional Act of September 14, 1961 [74 Stat. 508].
278

ARTICLE 54. Blood quantum is a Euro-American concept to guarantee the diminishing size of tribes so that eventually the tribal life will no longer be recognized by the U.S. government. Any person possessing a percentage of
Indigenous, Aboriginal, Native or tribal Umonhon/Ponca blood of any
provable degree, and not enrolled with any other Indigenous, Aboriginal,
Native or tribal Nation of the U. S., shall be acceptable and may be enrolled as a member of the Umonhon Nation upon the filing by or on behalf
of such person, with the Secretary of the Umonhon Nation, of a membership registration form prescribed by the Umonhon Nation.
ARTICLE 55. All persons, whether they be citizens of the Umonhon Nation or non
-Umonhon residents, living within the Nation’s exterior boundaries, excepting those rights, duties and opportunities so stated in this Constitution that are reserved exclusively for citizens of the Nation, including
voting and holding elective office, are equal and shall enjoy the same
rights, duties and opportunities. No one shall be discriminated against
for reasons of age, sex, gender identity, civil status, language, religion,
ideology, political affiliation, legal record, socio-economic condition, sexual orientation, health status, disability, physical difference or any other
distinguishing feature, whether personal or collective, temporary or permanent, which might be aimed at or result in the diminishment or annulment of recognition, enjoyment or exercise of rights. All forms of discrimination are punishable by law.
ARTICLE 56. The rights and guarantees set forth in the Umonhon Constitution
and in international human rights instruments shall be directly and immediately enforced by and before any civil, administrative or judicial
servant, either by virtue of their office or at the request of the party.
ARTICLE 57. No legal regulation can restrict the contents of rights or constitutional guarantees. In terms of rights and constitutional guarantees, public, administrative or judicial servants must abide by the most favorable
interpretation of their effective force. All principles and rights are unalienable, obligatory, indivisible, interdependent and of equal importance.

ARTICLE 58. The Umonhon Nation shall immediately exercise the right to file a
claim for restoration of full status of the Nation prior to the Treaty of
1815 between the Umonhon and the U.S. Government, and for reparations for the harm inflicted upon the people since, equivalent to the valuation of the 1860 dollar, the current valuation of the global reserve currency at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, without detriment
to civil, criminal and administrative liabilities. The U.S. Government shall
be held liable for arbitrary arrest and detention, miscarriage of justice,
unjustified delay or inadequate administration of justice, violation of the
right to effective protection of the court, and any violations of the principles and rules of due process of law perpetrated upon the Umonhon during this intervening period.
279

ARTICLE 59. Any person who, being a member of the Umonhon Nation, becomes
a member of any other Indigenous Nation shall automatically lose his or
her citizenship in the Umonhon Nation. Any person who loses membership in the Umonhon Nation shall not thereafter be entitled to membership in the Umonhon Nation.
ARTICLE 60. The Umonhon Nation’s Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council shall have the power to proclaim ordinances governing future membership, including adoption and loss of membership.
SECTION 2: Water and Food
ARTICLE 61. Water is life. The human right to water is essential and cannot be
waived. Clean water constitutes a national strategic asset for use by the
People and it is unalienable, not subject to a statute of limitations, immune from seizure and essential for life. It is not to be contaminated for
either private or public profit.
ARTICLE 62. Persons and community groups have the right to safe and permanent access to healthy, sufficient and nutritional food, preferably produced locally and in keeping with their cultural traditions. Industrial mining of the land is not allowed.
ARTICLE 63. Food sovereignty is a strategic objective and an obligation of the
Umonhon Nation in order to ensure that persons and communities
achieve self-sufficiency with respect to healthy and culturally appropriate
food on a permanent basis. To this end, the Umonhon Nation shall be responsible for:
1. Fostering the production, and the agri-food and fishing transformation of small and medium-sized production units, community production units and those of the social, mutually supportive economy.
2. Adopting fiscal, tax and tariff policies that protect the national
agri-food and fishing sector to prevent dependence on food
imports.
3. Bolstering diversification and the introduction of ecological and
organic technologies in farm and livestock production.
4. Promoting policies of redistribution that will enable small farmers to have access to land, water and other production resources.
5. Establishing preferential mechanisms for the financing of small
and medium-sized producers, facilitating for them the acquisition of means of production.
6. Promoting the conservation and recovery of agricultural biodi280

versity and related ancestral wisdom, along with the use, conservation and free exchange of seeds.
7. Ensuring that animals for human consumption are healthy and
raised in an appropriate environment for their wellbeing.
8. Ensuring the development of appropriate scientific research
and technological innovation to guarantee food sovereignty.
9. Regulating, under biosecurity regulations, the use and development of biotechnology, as well as its experimentation, use
and marketing.
10. Strengthening the development of organizations and networks of producers and consumers, along with those for the
marketing and distribution of food stuffs, so as to promote equity between rural and urban spaces.
11. Creating fair, mutually supportive systems for the distribution
and marketing of food stuffs. Preventing monopoly practices
and any type of speculation with food products.
12. Providing food to population groups that are the victims of
natural and manmade disasters that jeopardize access to food.
Food received through international aid shall not affect the
health or the future production of locally produced food stuffs.
13. Preventing and protecting the population from consuming
polluted food stuffs, or those that jeopardize their health or
whose effects are still scientifically uncertain; this includes genetically manipulated or modified food products.
14. Acquiring food and raw materials for social and food programs, giving priority to associative networks of small producers.
ARTICLE 64. The Umonhon Nation shall make laws for the use and access to land
that must fulfill social and environmental functions. Large estate farming
and land concentration is forbidden, as is the monopolizing or privatizing
of water and sources thereof. The Umonhon Nation shall regulate the use
and management of irrigation water for food production, abiding by the
principles of equity, efficiency and environmental sustainability.
SECTION 3: Healthy Environment
ARTICLE 65. The right of the population to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment that guarantees sustainability and the good way of
living is recognized. Environmental conservation, the protection of ecosystems, biodiversity and the integrity of the reservation’s genetic assets, the prevention of environmental damage, and the recovery of degraded natural spaces are declared matters of public interest.
281

ARTICLE 66. The Umonhon Nation shall promote, in the public and private sectors, the use of environmentally clean technologies and non-polluting
and low-impact alternative sources of energy. Energy sovereignty shall
not be achieved to the detriment of food sovereignty, nor shall it affect
the right to water. The development, production, ownership, marketing,
import, transport, storage and use of chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons, highly toxic persistent organic pollutants, internationally prohibited agrochemicals, and experimental biological technologies and
agents and genetically modified organisms that are harmful to human
health or that jeopardize food sovereignty or ecosystems, as well as the
introduction of nuclear residues and toxic waste into the Umo nhon Nation’s territory and waterways, are forbidden.
SECTION 4: Information and Communication
ARTICLE 67. All persons, individually or collectively, have the right to:
1. Universal access to information and communication technologies.
2. Access and use of all forms of visual, auditory, sensory and other communication that make it possible to include persons with
disabilities.
ARTICLE 68. All persons, whether individually or collectively, have the right to:
1. Look for, receive, exchange, produce and disseminate information that is truthful, accurate, timely, taken in context, plural, without prior censorship about the facts, events, and processes of general interest, with subsequent responsibility.
2. Gain access freely to information generated in public institutions
or in private institutions that handle Umonhon funds or perform
Umonhon public duties. There shall be no confidentiality of information except in those cases expressly provided for by the law.
In the event of a violation of human rights, no Umonhon public
institution shall refuse to provide the information.

SECTION 5: Culture and Science
ARTICLE 69. Persons have the right to build and uphold their own cultural identity and to express these choices; the right to aesthetic freedom; the
right to learn about the historical past of their culture and to gain access
to their cultural heritage; to disseminate their own cultural expressions
and to have access to diverse cultural expressions. Culture cannot be
used as an excuse when infringing rights recognized in this Constitution.
ARTICLE 70. Persons have the right to develop their creative capacity, to the
commendable and steady exercise of cultural and artistic activities, and
to benefit from the protection of moral and heritage rights that pertain
to them as a result of the scientific, literary or artistic productions of
which they are the authors.
282

ARTICLE 71. Persons have the right to gain access to and participate in public
spaces as a sphere for deliberation, cultural exchange, social cohesiveness and the promotion of equality in diversity. The right to share in
public spaces one’s own cultural works and beliefs shall be exercised
without any constraint other than those provided for by the law, subject
to the principles of this Constitution.
ARTICLE 72. Persons have the right to recreation and leisure, practice of sports
and free time.
ARTICLE 73. Persons have the right to enjoy the benefits and applications of scientific progress and ancestral wisdom.

SECTION 6: Education
ARTICLE 74. An Umonhon Education is a right of persons throughout their lives
and an unavoidable and mandatory duty of the Umonhon Nation. It constitutes a priority area for public policymaking and investment, the guarantee of equality and social inclusion and the indispensable condition for
the good way of living. Persons, families and society have the right and
responsibility to participate in education.
ARTICLE 75. Umonhon education will focus on the human being and shall guarantee holistic human development, in the framework of respect for human rights, a sustainable environment, and democracy; education shall
be participatory, compulsory, intercultural, democratic, inclusive and diverse, of high quality and humane; it shall promote gender equity, justice, solidarity and peace; it shall encourage critical faculties, arts and
sports, individual and community initiatives, and the development of
competencies and capabilities to create and work. Education is indispensable for knowledge, exercise of rights and building a sovereign country
and it is a key strategy for national development.
ARTICLE 76. Umonhon education shall be for the general welfare of the public
and shall not be at the service of individual and corporate interests. Universal access, permanence, mobility and graduation without any discrimination shall be guaranteed, as well as compulsory attendance of initial
schooling, basic education and secondary education or their equivalent.
It is the right of every person and community to interact among cultures
and to participate in a society that learns. The Umo nhon Nation shall promote intercultural dialogue in all of its many dimensions. Learning shall
take place with schooling systems and non-school opportunities. Umonhon Public education shall be universal and secular at all levels and shall
be free of charge up to and including the third level of higher education.
Corporal punishment, banning use of Umonhon language usage, and negative behavior towards students will not be permitted. Undue promotion
of U.S. culture in place of Umonhon culture will not be permitted.
ARTICLE 77. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the freedom to teach, aca283

demic freedom in higher education, and the right of persons to learn in
their own language and cultural environment. Teaching the Umonhon
Language will be mandatory starting in HeadStart through High School.
SECTION 7: Habitat and Housing
ARTICLE 78. Persons have the right to a safe and healthy habitat and adequate
and decent housing, regardless of their social and economic status.
ARTICLE 79. Persons have the right to fully enjoy the Umonhon Nation, its towns,
environs and its public spaces, on the basis of principles of sustainability,
social justice, respect for different urban cultures and a balance between
the urban and rural sectors. Exercising the right to the Umo nhon Nation
is based on the democratic management of the Umonhon Nation, with respect to the social and environmental function of property and the Umo nhon Nation and with the full exercise of citizenship.
SECTION 8: Health
ARTICLE 80. Health is a right guaranteed by the Umonhon Nation and whose fulfillment is linked to the exercise of other rights, among which the right to
clean water, healthy food, education including the arts, sports, work, social security, healthy environments and others that support the good
way of living. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee this right by means of
economic, social, cultural, educational, and environmental policies; and
the permanent, timely and non-exclusive access to programs, actions
and services promoting and providing integral healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health. The provision of healthcare services shall be
governed by the principles of equity, universality, solidarity, quality, efficiency, effectiveness, prevention, and bioethics, with a gender and generational approach.
SECTION 9: Labor
ARTICLE 81. Work is a right and a social duty, as well as an economic right,
source of personal fulfillment and the basis for the economy. The Umo nhon Nation shall guarantee full respect for the dignity of working persons, a decent life, fair pay and recompense, and performance toward a
healthy job that is freely chosen and accepted.
SECTION 10: Rights of Priority Persons and Groups
ARTICLE 82. Elderly persons, girls, children and adolescents, pregnant women,
persons with disabilities, persons in prison and those who suffer from
disastrous or highly complex diseases shall receive priority and specialized care in both the public and private sectors. The same priority care
shall be received by persons in situations of risk, victims of domestic and
sexual violence, child mistreatment, natural or manmade disasters. The
Umonhon Nation shall provide special protection to persons who are doubly vulnerable.
284

SECTION 11: Elderly Women and Men

ARTICLE 83. Elderly persons shall receive priority and specialized attention in
both the public and private sectors, especially in terms of social and economic inclusion and protection against violence. Those persons who have
reached sixty years of age shall be considered to be elderly.
ARTICLE 84. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee elderly persons the following
rights:
1. Specialized healthcare free of charge, as well as free access to
medicines.
2. Paid work, on the basis of their skills, for which purpose their
constraints shall be taken into account.
3. Universal retirement.
4. Discounts in public services and private transportation services
and entertainment.
5. Tax exemptions.
6. Exemption from paying the costs for notary and registration
services, in accordance with the law.
7. Access to housing that ensures a decent life, with respect for
their opinion and consent.
ARTICLE 85. The Umonhon Nation shall draw up public policies and programs
aimed at providing care for elderly persons that bear in mind specific differences between the urban and rural sectors, gender concerns, ethnic
group, culture, and the differences in regards to persons; it will also foster, to the greatest extent possible, personal autonomy and participation
in the drafting and implementation of these policies. In particular, the
Umonhon Nation shall take the following measures:
1. Care in specialized centers that guarantee their nutrition,
health, education and daily care, in a framework of integral
protection of rights. Care centers shall be established to shelter those who cannot be taken care of by their relatives or
who do not have a place to stay permanently.
2. Special protection against any type of labor or economic exploitation. The Umonhon Nation shall implement policies aimed
at fostering the participation and work of elderly persons in
public and private institutions so that they can contribute their
experience, and it shall develop job training programs, on the
basis of their profession and ambitions.

3. Development of programs/policies aimed at fostering their personal autonomy, reducing their dependence and securing their
full social integration.
285

4. Protection and care against all types of violence, mistreatment,
sexual exploitation or any other kind or neglect leading to any
of these situations.
5. Program development aimed fostering recreational and spiritual activities.
6. Preferential care in cases of disasters, armed conflicts and all
kinds of emergencies.
7. Establishment of special system for the enforcement of
measures of imprisonment. In the event of a conviction with
life sentence, as long as no other alternative measures are applied, they shall fulfill their sentence in centers that are adequate for this purpose, with dignity even as they are isolated
from general society, and, in the case of pre-trial arrest, they
shall be subject to house arrest.
8. Protection, care, and special assistance when they suffer from
chronic or degenerative diseases.
9. Adequate economic and psychological assistance guaranteeing
their physical and mental health. The abandonment of elderly
persons by their relatives or institutions set up for their protection is punishable by law.
SECTION 12: Young People
ARTICLE 86. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the rights of young people and
shall promote the effective exercise of these rights by means of policies
and programs, institutions and resources that ensure and uphold, on a
permanent basis, their participation and inclusion in all sectors, especially in public sector spaces. The Umonhon Nation shall recognize young
people as strategic players in the country’s development and shall guarantee their right to education, health, housing, recreation, sports, leisure, freedom of expression and association. The Umonhon Nation shall
foster their incorporation into the labor force in fair and decent conditions, with emphasis on training, guarantee of access to first employment, and promotion of their entrepreneurial skills.
SECTION 13: Freedom of Movement
ARTICLE 87. The right to migrate of persons, either Umonhon or non-Umonhon, is
recognized. No human being shall be identified or considered as illegal
because of their migratory status. The right of all non-Umonhon who
reach and enter the boundaries of the 1854 Reservation to declare asylum from political persecution in their own countries shall not be
abridged.

ARTICLE 88. The Umonhon’ Nation, through the relevant entities, shall develop,
among others, the following actions for the exercise of the rights of
286

Umonhon persons abroad, regardless of their migratory status:

1. The Nation shall promote their ties with the Umonhon, facilitate
family reunification and encourage their voluntary return.
2. The Umonhon Nation shall protect transnational families and
the rights of their members.
ARTICLE 89. All arbitrary displacement is forbidden. Persons who have been displaced shall have the right to receive protection and emergency humanitarian aid from the Umonhon Nation’s authorities, ensuring access to
food, shelter, housing, and medical and health services. Children, adolescents, pregnant women, mothers with underage daughters and sons,
elderly persons and persons with disabilities shall receive preferential
and specialized humanitarian assistance. All displaced persons and
groups shall have the right to return to their place of origin voluntarily,
with safety and dignity.
SECTION 14: Pregnant Women
ARTICLE 90. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the rights of pregnant and
breast-feeding women:
1. No discrimination for pregnancy in education, social, and labor
sectors.

2. Free maternal healthcare services.
3. Priority protection and care of their integral health and life during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.
4. The facilities needed for their recovery after pregnancy and
during breast-feeding.
5. Abortions are a decision made by women in consultation with
their doctors.
SECTION 15: Children and Adolescents
ARTICLE 91. The Umonhon Nation, society and the family shall promote as a priority the integral development of children and adolescents and shall
guarantee the full exercise of their rights; the principle of the higher interest of children shall be upheld and their rights shall prevail, given
equal circumstances, over those of older persons. Children and adolescents shall also enjoy the right to their integral development, construed
as a process of growth, maturity, and deployment of their intellect and
capabilities, potential and ambitions in family, school, social and community environments marked by affection and security. This environment
shall make it possible to meet their social, emotional and affective, and
cultural needs, with the support of national and local policies.
ARTICLE 92. Children and adolescents shall enjoy the rights that are common to
all human beings, in addition to those that are specific to their age. The
287

Umonhon Nation shall recognize and guarantee life, including care and
protection from the time of conception. Recognizing that all conceptions
cannot always be brought to term for reasons of health and prospect of
life for either/or both the mother and the child, abortions shall be handled on a case-by-case basis, as noted in Article 89, above. Children and
adolescents have the right to physical and psychological integrity; to an
identity, an Umonhon name and citizenship; to integral health and nutrition; to education and culture, sports, and recreation; to social security;
to have a family and enjoy peaceful coexistence with family and community; to social participation; to respect for their freedom and dignity; to
be consulted in matters affecting them; to be educated as a priority in
their own language and in the cultural context of their own people and
nation; and to receive information about their parents or absent relatives, unless it is harmful to their well-being. The Umonhon Nation shall
guarantee their freedom of expression and association, the free functioning of student councils and types of associations.
ARTICLE 93. The Umonhon Nation shall adopt, among others, the following
measures that safeguard children and adolescents:
1. Care for children under six years of age that guarantees their
nutrition, health, education and daily care in a framework of
integral protection of their rights.
2. Access to comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education, including birth control, emphasizing pleasure and the responsibility that goes with it.
3. Special protection against any type of labor or economic exploitation. Work of children under fifteen years of age is forbidden. Adolescent labor shall be the exception rather than the
rule, and cannot undermine their right to education, nor can it
be carried out in situations that are harmful or dangerous to
their health or personal development. Their work and other activities shall be respected, recognized, and supported as long as
it does not jeopardize their education and integral development.
4. Preferential care for the full social integration of persons with disabilities. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee mainstreaming
disabled persons in the regular education system and society.
5. Protection and care against all forms of violence, mistreatment, sexual exploitation or exploitation of any other kind or
against neglect leading to these situations.
6. Prevention of the use of illegal drugs or psychotropic substances and the consumption of alcoholic beverages and other substances that are harmful to their health and development.
288

7. Priority care in case of disasters, armed conflicts or any kind of
emergency.
8. Special protection and assistance when the mother or father or
both are arrested and imprisoned.
9. Special protection, care and assistance when they suffer from
chronic or degenerative diseases.
SECTION 16: Adoptions
ARTICLE 94. Adoptions of children born among and within the Umonhon Nation
will be in accordance with the U.S. Federal Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA). If it is a child of extended family within the clan the child will be
considered a member of the family clan. If it is the child from another
clan it is the family’s choice whether to raise the child within their clan or
to provide the avenue for the child to learn their birth clan.
ARTICLE 95. Honor adoptions of non-Aboriginals into a family is to be considered limited to that family only, and not to either the clan to which that
family belongs or to the Umonhon Nation. Such adoptions recognize relationships but carry no privileges beyond the family.
1. Adoptions into Clans must have the permission of the majority
of the specific Clan members and cannot be assumed to be
automatically given when a family adopts a non-Tribal citizen
on its own. Such adoptions recognize relationships only but
carry no privileges beyond the formal recognition of the relationship.
2. Adoptions into the Umonhon Nation must have the permission
of the majority of the overall Umonhon tribal members and
cannot be assumed to be automatically given when either a
family or a Clan chooses to adopt a member outside the Umo nhon Nation. Such adoptions recognize relationships only but
carry no privileges beyond the formal recognition of the relationship.
SECTION 17: Persons with Disabilities
ARTICLE 96. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee disability prevention policies
and, along with society and the family, it shall ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and their social integration. The following rights of persons with disabilities are recognized:
1. Specialized attention in public and private entities that provide
healthcare services for their specific needs.
2. Integral rehabilitation and permanent assistance, which shall
include the corresponding technical aids.
3. Discounts for public services and for private transportation ser289

vices and entertainment.

4. Tax exemptions.
5. Work in conditions of equal opportunity that foster their capabilities and potential by means of policies that permit their incorporation into public and private entities.
6. Adequate housing, with facilities for access and the conditions
needed to address their disability and to achieve the highest
possible degree of autonomy in their daily life. Persons with
disabilities who cannot be cared for by their relatives during
the day or who have no permanent place to live shall have
welcoming centers for their shelter.
7. An education that develops their potential and skills for their
integration and participation in equal conditions. Their education in the regular Umonhon education system shall be guaranteed. Regular establishments shall incorporate a differentiated
treatment and those establishments for special care shall incorporate specialized education. Schools shall comply with
standards of accessibility for persons with disabilities and shall
implement a scholarship system that is in line with the economic conditions of this group.

8. Specialized education for persons with intellectual disabilities
and promoting their capabilities by the establishment of specific education centers and teaching programs.
9. Free psychological care for persons with disabilities and their
families, in particular in the case of intellectual disabilities.
10. Adequate access to all goods and services. Architectural barriers shall be eliminated.
11. Access to alternative communication mechanisms, media and
forms, among which sign language for deaf persons, oralism
and Braille system.
ARTICLE 97. The Umonhon Nation shall adopt for the benefit of persons with disabilities measures that ensure:
1. Social inclusion, by means of coordinated Umonhon Nation and
private plans and programs that promote their political, social,
educational, and economic participation.
2. Obtaining tax credits and discounts or exemptions that enable
them to start up and keep productive activities and obtaining
study scholarships at all levels of education.

3. Program/policy development will be aimed at promoting their
leisure/rest.
290

4. Political participation, which shall ensure that they are duly
represented, in accordance with the law.
5. The establishment of specialized programs for the integral care
of persons with severe and deep disabilities, in order to
achieve the maximum development of their personality, the
promotion of their autonomy and the reduction of their dependence.
6. Incentive and support for production projects for the benefit of
the relatives of persons with severe disabilities.
7. Guaranteeing the full exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities. Abandonment of these persons is punishable by law
and any action leading to any kind of abuse, inhuman and degrading treatment and discrimination because of their disability shall be punishable by law.
ARTICLE 98. The persons and families who provide care to persons with disabilities and who require permanent attention shall be covered by Social Security and shall receive periodic training to improve the quality of care.
SECTION 18 Persons with Disastrous Diseases
ARTICLE 99. Umonhon Nation shall guarantee for all persons suffering from disastrous or highly complex diseases the right to specialized, timely, and
preferential care free of charge.

DIVISION 5: THE GOOD WAY OF LIVING SYSTEM
SECTION 1: Inclusion and Equity
ARTICLE 100. The Umonhon Nation system of social inclusion and equity is an
articulated and coordinated set of systems, institutions, policies, norms,
programs and services that ensure the exercise, guarantee, and enforceability of the rights enshrined in the Umonhon Constitution and the
achievement of the objectives of the development plan. The system shall
be coordinated with the Umonhon Nation Development Plan and with the
national decentralized system of participatory planning; it shall be guided by the principles of universality, equality, equity, progressivity, interculturalism, solidarity and nondiscrimination; and it shall function on the
basis of criteria of quality, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, responsibility and participation. The system is comprised of the sectors of
education, health, social security, risk management, physical education
and sports, habitat and housing, culture, information and communication, the enjoyment of leisure, science and technology, population, human security and transportation.

ARTICLE 101. The Umonhon Nation shall create the conditions for the integral
protection of its inhabitants throughout their lives, conditions that shall
ensure the rights and principles enshrined in the Umonhon Constitution,
291

in particular that of equality in diversity and nondiscrimination, and shall
give priority to actions for those groups who require special consideration because of the persistence of inequalities, exclusion, discrimination
or violence, or by virtue of their age, health, or disabilities. Integral protection shall function by means of specialized systems in accordance with
the law. The specialized systems shall be guided by their specific principles and by those of the national system of social inclusion and equity.
The Umonhon national decentralized system for the integral protection of
the rights of children and adolescents shall be in charge of ensuring the
exercise of the rights of children and adolescents. They shall be part of
the system of public, private and community institutions.

ARTICLE 102. The Umonhon Nation shall allocate, as a priority and equitably,
enough timely and permanent resources for the system’s functioning and
management.
SECTION 2: Education
ARTICLE 103. The Umonhon Nation education system shall be aimed at developing the population’s individual and collective capabilities and potential,
enabling learning and the generation and use of knowledge, techniques,
wisdom, arts and culture. The system shall have as its core focus the
learning subject and shall function flexibly and dynamically, with an inclusive, efficient and effective approach. The national education system
shall incorporate an intercultural vision in line with the country’s geographical, cultural, and linguistic diversity and respect for the rights of
the communities, peoples and nations.
ARTICLE 104. The Umonhon national education system shall be comprised of the
institutions, programs, policies, resources and players of the education
process, as well as actions at the initial, basic, and secondary levels of
education and shall be articulated with the higher education system. The
Umonhon Nation shall exercise leadership of the system. it shall also regulate and monitor activities involving education, as well as the functioning of the system’s entities.
ARTICLE 105. Umonhon Education as a public service shall be provided by means
of public institutions. In the schools, social services and psychological
support shall be provided free of charge, in the framework of the system of
inclusion and social equity.
ARTICLE 106. There shall be one autonomous public institution for comprehensive internal and external evaluation aimed at promoting the quality of
education.
ARTICLE 107. The following shall be the responsibility of the Umonhon Nation:

1. To strengthen public education and co-education; ensure permanent improvement of quality, the enlargement of coverage,
physical facilities and the equipment needed for public school292

ing institutions.

2. To guarantee that schools shall be democratic spaces for the exercise of rights and peaceful coexistence. Schools shall be opportunities for the early detection of special requirements.
3. To guarantee formal and non-formal modalities of education.
4. To ensure that all educational institutions provide education in
citizenship, sexuality and the environment, using a rightsbased approach.
5. To guarantee respect for the psycho-evolutionary development
of children and adolescents, in the entire education process.
6. To eliminate all forms of violence in the education system and to
safeguard the bodily, psychological and sexual integrity of students.
7. To eliminate pure, functional and digital illiteracy; to support postliteracy processes, continuous education for adults and overcoming education lags.
8. To incorporate information and communication technologies in
the education process and promote the linkage between teaching and productive and social activities.

9. To guarantee the intercultural bilingual education system, where
the main language for educating shall be Umonhon and English
as the language for intercultural relations, under the guidance
of Umonhon Nation’s public policies with total respect for the
rights of communities, peoples and nations.
10. To ensure that the teaching of both Umonhon and English be
progressively included in the curriculum starting with Head Start
and Kindergarten.
11. To guarantee the active participation of students, families and
teachers in education processes.
12. To guarantee, on the basis of the principles of social, territorial
and regional equity, that all persons shall have access to public
education.
ARTICLE 108. Public education shall be free of charge and the Umo nhon Nation
shall fund it on a timely, regular and sufficient basis. The distribution of
resources earmarked for education shall be governed by the criteria of
social, demographic, and territorial equity, among others. The Umo nhon
Nation shall fund special education and shall be able to financially support arts and crafts, and community education, as long as they abide by
the principles of an education that is free of charge, mandatory and ensuring equality of opportunities, are held accountable for the results of
education and the management of public resources, and are duly quali293

fied in accordance with the law. Umonhon Educational institutions that receive public funding shall be non-profit entities. The failure to transfer
resources in accordance with the above-mentioned conditions shall be
punished by the dismissal of the authority and public servants who were
remiss in their obligation.
ARTICLE 109. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee, for the teaching staff, at all
levels and modalities, job security, modernization, ongoing training, and
teaching and academic improvement, as well as fair pay, in accordance
with their professional development, performance and academic merits.
The law shall regulate the teacher career stream and salary and promotion scale; it shall set up a national performance evaluation system and
a salary policies at all levels. Policies for teacher promotion, mobility,
and rotation shall be established.
ARTICLE 110. The Umonhon higher education system shall be aimed at academic
and professional training with a scientific and humanist vision; scientific
and technological research; innovation, promotion, development and dissemination of wisdom and cultures; building solutions for the Umonhon Nation’s problems with respect to the objectives of the development system.
ARTICLE 111. The Umonhon higher education system shall be articulated with
the Umonhon national education system and the Umonhon National Development Plan; the law shall establish mechanisms to coordinate the higher education system with the National Assembly. This system shall be
governed by the principles of responsible autonomy, joint governance,
equality of opportunities, quality, relevance, integrality, self-determination
to engender thinking and knowledge, in the framework of a dialogue between different forms of knowledge, universal thinking, and global scientific and technological production.
ARTICLE 112. The Umonhon higher education system shall be comprised of colleges and universities, polytechnic schools, advanced vocational, technological and teaching institutions; and conservatories of music and arts,
duly accredited and evaluated. These institutions, whether public or private, are not-for-profit.
ARTICLE 113. Both public and private colleges and universities, as well as polytechnic schools shall be established by law, after a binding favorable report of the body in charge of planning, regulation and coordination of the
system, which will be based on prior favorable and mandatory reports of
the institutions responsible for quality assurance and the Umonhon national planning body. Advanced technological, vocational and teaching
institutes and conservatories shall be created by resolution issued by the
body in charge of planning, regulating and coordinating the system, after
a prior favorable report of the system’s quality assurance institution and
the Umonhon national planning body. The creation and funding of new
public study institutes and university career streams shall be subject to
294

the requirements of national development. The body in charge of planning, regulating, and coordinating the system and the body in charge of
accreditation and quality assurance can suspend, in accordance with the
law, universities, polytechnic schools, higher education, technological,
and teaching institutes and conservatories, as well as request the repeal
of those that are created by law.
ARTICLE 114. The Umonhon Nation shall recognize the academic, administrative,
financial and organizational autonomy of universities and polytechnic
schools, in accordance with the objectives of the development structure
and the principles set forth in the Umonhon Constitution. Universities and
polytechnic schools are recognized the right to autonomy, exercised and
understood as matter of solidarity and responsibility. This autonomy
guarantees the exercise of academic freedom and the right to search for
the truth, without restrictions; self-governance and management in conformity with the principles of rotation of power, transparency, and political rights; and the production of science, technology, culture and art.
Their premises are inviolable and they cannot be broken into and
searched except in those cases and terms applicable to the domicile of a
person. The guarantee of internal law and order shall be the area of
competence and responsibility of their authorities. When protection of
the forces of law and order is required, the supreme authority of the institution shall request the relevant assistance. Autonomy does not exonerate the system’s institutions from being audited, social responsibility,
accountability and participation in Umonhon national planning. The National Assembly shall not be able to deprive them of their revenues or
budget allocations, or delay transfers to any institution of the system, or
shut them down or restructure them either totally or partially.
ARTICLE 115. Umonhon higher public education shall be free of charge up to the
third level [post-secondary undergraduate schooling]. Admittance to public institutions of higher education shall be regulated by means of a credit
equivalency and admission system, as defined by law. Free tuition shall
be linked to the academic responsibility of the students. Regardless of
their public or private character, equality of opportunities with respect to
access, permanence, passing and graduation shall be guaranteed.
ARTICLE 116. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the funding of public institutions of higher education. Public universities and polytechnic schools can
create supplementary sources of revenue to improve their academic capabilities, invest in research and granting scholarships and loans, which
shall not entail any cost or charge for those who attend third-level education. The distribution of these resources shall be based essentially on
quality and other criteria set by law. The law shall regulate technical advisory services, consulting services and those that involve alternative
sources of income for universities and polytechnic schools, whether public or private.
295

SECTION 3: Health
ARTICLE 117. The Umonhon national health system shall be aimed at ensuring
the development, protection, and recovery of capacities and potential for
a healthy and integral life, both individual and collective, and shall recognize social and cultural diversity. The system shall be governed by the
general principles of the national system of social inclusion and equity
and by those of bioethics, adequacy and interculturalism, with a gender
and generation approach.
ARTICLE 118. The Umonhon national health system shall be comprised of institutions, programs, policies, resources, actions, and players in health; it
shall encompass all the dimensions of the right to health; and guarantee
the promotion, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation of all levels.
ARTICLE 119. The Umonhon national health system shall guarantee, through the
institutions that comprise it, the promotion of family and community
health, prevention and integral care, on the basis of primary healthcare; it
shall articulate various levels of care; and it shall promote compatibility
with ancestral and alternative medicines. The comprehensive public
healthcare network shall be part of the Umonhon national health system
and shall be comprised of the coordinated set of the Umonhon Nation’s
institutions, social security and other suppliers that belong to the Umonhon Nation on the basis of legal, operational and complementary ties.
ARTICLE 120. The Umonhon Nation shall exercise leadership of the system
through the Umonhon national health authorities, shall be responsible for
Umonhon national health policymaking, and shall set standards for, regulate and monitor all health-related activities, as well as the functioning of
sector entities.
ARTICLE 121. Umonhon Healthcare as a public service shall be provided through
private, autonomous, and community institutions, as well as those that
practice alternative and complementary ancestral medicine. Umonhon
Healthcare services shall be safe, of a high quality, and humane, and they
shall guarantee informed consent, access to information, and confidentiality of the information of patients. Umonhon public health services shall
be universal and free of charge at all levels of care and shall include necessary procedures of diagnosis, treatment, medicines and rehabilitation.
ARTICLE 122. The Umonhon Nation shall be responsible for:
1. Drafting public policies that guarantee the promotion, prevention, healing, rehabilitation and provision of integral health care
and the fostering of healthy practices in the family, at work,
and in the community.

2. Universal healthcare, permanently improving quality, and evolving
coverage.
296

3. Building up healthcare services, incorporating human talent, and
providing physical infrastructure and equipment to public
health institutions.
4. Guaranteeing Umonhon ancestral and alternative health practices
by recognizing, respecting and promoting the use of their
knowledge, medicines and instruments.
5. Providing specialized care to groups requiring priority attention
as provided for in the Constitution.
6. Ensuring sexual and reproductive health actions and services
and guaranteeing the integral healthcare and the life of women, especially during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.
7. Guaranteeing the availability and access to quality, safe and effective medicines, regulating their marketing, and promoting
the national production and use of generic drugs that meet the
epidemiological needs of the population. With respect to access
to medicine, public health interests shall prevail over economic
and commercial interests.
8. Promoting the integral development of health staff.
ARTICLE 123. Addictions are a public health problem. The Umonhon Nation shall
be responsible for developing coordination programs for information
about, prevention and control of the use of alcohol, tobacco, and narcotic and psychotropic substances, as well as providing treatment and rehabilitation to occasional, habitual and problematic users. In no case shall
their criminalization or infringement of their rights be allowed. The Umo nhon Nation shall control and regulate advertising for alcohol and tobacco.
ARTICLE 124. For no reason shall Umonhon public or private institutions or
healthcare professionals refuse emergency care. This refusal shall be
punishable by law.
ARTICLE 125. Public funding for health shall be timely, regular and sufficient
and must come from ongoing sources of the Umonhon General Budget.
Government resources shall be distributed on the basis of population criteria and health needs. The Umonhon Nation shall fund health institutions
and shall be able to financially support autonomous and private institutions as long as they are not for profit, guarantee services free of
charge, comply with public policies, and ensure quality, security, and respect for rights. These institutions shall be subject to monitoring and
regulation.
SECTION 4: Social Security
ARTICLE 126. The Umonhon social security system is public and universal, it cannot be privatized and it shall meet the contingent needs of the population. The protection of contingencies shall be made effective through
297

mandatory universal insurance and its special regimes. The system shall
be guided by the principles of the national system for social inclusion and
equity and by those of obligation, adequacy, integration, and solidarity.
ARTICLE 127. The Umonhon social security system shall be comprised of public
institutions, norms, policies, resources, social security services and provisions, and shall function on the basis of criteria of sustainability, efficiency, swiftness, and transparency. The Umonhon Nation shall set standards for, regulate and control activities related to social security.
ARTICLE 128. Mandatory universal insurance shall cover the contingencies of illness, maternity, paternity, labor hazards, termination of employment,
unemployment, old age, invalidity, disability, death and those provided
for by the law. Health services for the contingencies of illness and maternity shall be provided through the public integral health network. Mandatory universal insurance shall be extended to the entire urban and rural
population, regardless of their labor status. Healthcare services for persons who carry out unpaid domestic chores and care-giving activities
shall be funded by inputs and contributions from the Umonhon Nation.
The law shall determine the corresponding mechanism. The creation of
new services shall be duly funded.
ARTICLE 129. The Umonhon Social Security Institute, an autonomous entity regulated by law, shall be responsible for the provision of the contingencies of
the mandatory universal insurance to its affiliates. The Umo nhon warrior:
police force shall be able to benefit from a special social security system,
in accordance with the law; their social security entities shall become
part of the comprehensive public health network and the social security
system.
ARTICLE 130. Umonhon social security services shall be funded with the contributions of insured persons who are employed and their respective employers; with the contributions of independent insured persons; with the
voluntary contributions of Umonhon domiciled abroad; and with quotas
and contributions made by the Umonhon Nation. Umonhon Nation resources earmarked for mandatory universal insurance shall appear every
year in the General Budget and shall be transferred on time. Social security cash entitlements shall not be subject to termination, seizure or
withholding, except in the cases of alimony payments due by law or obligations incurred for the benefit of the insuring institution and they shall
be tax-exempt.
ARTICLE 131. The funds and reserves of mandatory universal insurance shall be
their own resources and separate from those of the public treasure and
shall be used to adequately achieve the goals for which the insurance
was created and its functions. No Umonhon Nation institution will be able
to intervene or dispose of its funds and reserves or to undermine its assets. Provisional public funds and their investments shall be channeled
298

through a financial institution owned by the Umonhon Social Security Institute; their management shall be subject to the principles of security,
solvency, efficiency, profitability, and control by the competent body.
ARTICLE 132. Rural worker social security, which is part of the Umo nhon Social
Security Institute, shall consist of a special system for mandatory universal insurance to protect the rural population and persons earning
their livelihood from traditional agriculture; it shall be funded with the
mutually supportive contribution of insured persons and employers of
the national social security system, with the differentiated contribution
by heads of protected households and the treasury allocations that guarantee their consolidation and development. Insurance shall provide
health benefits and protection against contingencies of invalidity, disability, old age and death. Public and private insurance, without exception,
shall contribute to funding the rural worker social security through the
Umonhon Social Security Institute.
ARTICLE 133. The Umonhon Nation shall encourage Umonhon domiciled abroad to
voluntarily affiliate themselves to the Umonhon Social Security Institute
and shall ensure the provision of contingencies. The funding of these
services shall benefit from the contribution of voluntarily affiliated persons domiciled abroad.
SECTION 5: Habitat and Housing
ARTICLE 134. The Umonhon Nation, at all levels of government, shall guarantee
the right to habitat and decent housing, for which purpose it shall:
1. Create the necessary information to draw up strategies and programs that understand the ties between housing, services, public
space and transportation, equipment and management of both urban and rural land.
2. Keep a national geo-referenced integrated record of property
boundaries of habitat and housing.

3. Draft, implement and evaluate policies, plans and programs for
habitat and universal access to housing, on the basis of the
principles of universality, equity, and interculturalism, with a
risk management approach.
4. Improve precarious housing, provide shelters, public spaces and
green areas and promote rent under a special system.
5. Develop plans and programs to fund housing of social interest,
through government banks and grassroots credit institutions,
with emphasis on persons with limited financial resources and
women heads of household.
6. Guarantee the uninterrupted provision of public clean water services and electricity to schools and public hospitals.
299

7. Ensure that all persons have the right to enter into housing
rental contracts at a fair price and without abuse.
8. Guarantee and protect public access to the beaches and banks
of rivers, lakes, and ponds and the existence of perpendicular
access ways.
9. The Umonhon Nation shall exercise leadership for the planning,
regulation, control, funding and policymaking for habitat and
housing.
ARTICLE 135. To enforce the right to housing, habitat and environmental conservation, the municipalities of the Umonhon Nation will be able to expropriate, reserve, and control areas for future development in accordance
with the law. Obtaining benefits from speculative land use practices, in
particular by changing the use from rural to urban or public to private is
forbidden.
SECTION 6: Culture
ARTICLE 136. The Umonhon national system for culture is aimed at building
Umonhon national identity; protecting and promoting the diversity of
Umonhon cultural manifestations; encouraging the freedom of Umonhon
artistic creation and the production, dissemination, distribution and enjoyment of Umonhon cultural goods and services; and safeguarding
Umonhon social memory and cultural heritage, both off and on the Reservation, the latter as stated in Article 2, Section 1, Division 1 of this
Constitution. The full exercise of Umonhon cultural rights is guaranteed.
ARTICLE 137. The Umonhon national system for Umonhon culture shall be comprised of all the institutions of the Umonhon cultural sector that receive
public funding and of the groups and persons who are voluntarily linked
to the system. The Umonhon cultural entities that receive public funding
shall be subject to control and accountability. The Umonhon Nation shall
exercise leadership of the system through the competent body, with respect to the freedom of Umonhon creation and expression, interculturalism and diversity; it shall be responsible for the management and promotion of Umonhon culture, as well as the drafting and implementation of
Umonhon national policy in this field.
ARTICLE 138. The external boundaries of the 1854 defined the Reservation. The
following are part of the tangible and intangible aspects of Umo nhon cultural heritage that is relevant for the memory and identity of persons
and groups in need of safeguarding that need to be identified, researched, documented and protected by the Umonhon Nation, among
other cultural markers:
1. Umonhon Language, forms of expression, oral tradition and diverse cultural creations, including those of a ritual, festive or
productive nature.
300

2. Urban buildings, spaces, and sectors, monuments, natural sites,
trails, gardens or landscapes that constitute milestones for the
Umonhon identity of peoples or that have Umonhon historical,
artistic, archeological, ethnographic or paleontological value.
3. Documents, objects, collections, archives, libraries, and museums that have Umonhon historical, artistic, archeological, ethnographic or paleontological value.
4. Umonhon Artistic, scientific and technological creations. The
cultural heritage assets of the Umonhon Nation shall be unalienable, immune from seizure, and not subject to a statute of
limitations. The Umonhon Nation shall have priority right over
the acquisition of cultural heritage assets and shall guarantee
their protection. Any damage shall be punishable by law.
ARTICLE 139. The following shall be responsibilities of the Umonhon Nation:
1. To safeguard, by means of permanent policies, the identification, protection, defense, preservation, restoration, dissemination and growth of the tangible and intangible Umonhon cultural heritage, historical, artistic, linguistic and archeological
wealth, the collective memory and the set of values and manifestations that constitute the identity of Umonhon.

2. To promote the restitution and restoration of Umonhon heritage
assets that were plundered, lost or degraded and to ensure
authorized copyright registration of non-tribally-derived and
compiled mass media printed matter, audiovisual materials and
electronic contents addressing all aspects of Umonhon culture.
3. To ensure that the circuits of distribution, public exhibition and
mass dissemination of Umonhon culture do not condition or restrict the independence of creators, or the access of the public
to Umonhon national independent cultural and artistic creation.
4. To establish policies and implement forms of Umo nhon teaching
for the development of artistic and creative vocation of persons
of all ages, with priority given to children and adolescents.
5. To support the practice of Umonhon artistic professions.
6. To establish incentives and stimuli for persons, institutions, companies and media to promote, support, develop, and fund Umonhon cultural activities.
7. To guarantee diversity in the supply of Umonhon culture and to
promote the national production of Umonhon cultural assets, as
well as their mass dissemination.
8. To guarantee sufficient and timely funding for the implementation of Umonhon cultural policy.
301

SECTION 7: Physical Education and Leisure

ARTICLE 140. The Umonhon Nation shall protect, promote and coordinate physical exercise, including sports, physical education and recreation, as an
activity that contributes to health, the formation and integral development of persons; it shall promote massive access to sports and sports
activities at the educational and neighborhood level; and it shall foster
the participation of persons with disabilities. The Umonhon Nation shall
guarantee the resources and infrastructure needed for these activities.
The resources shall be subject to Umo nhon Nation control, accountability
and must be distributed equitably.
ARTICLE 141. The autonomy of sports organizations and the administration of
sports arenas and other facilities aimed at the practice of sports is recognized, in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 142. The right of persons and communities to free time, the expansion of
physical, social and environmental conditions for its enjoyment, and the
promotion of activities for leisure, rest, and development of the personality is guaranteed.
SECTION 8: Media
ARTICLE 143. The Umonhon media system shall ensure the exercise of the rights
of communication, information and freedom of expression, and shall
strengthen public participation. The system shall be comprised of public
institutions and players, policies and the regulatory framework; and private players, citizens, and communities that voluntarily wish to be part
of it. The Umonhon Nation shall draft public policy for communication,
with unrestricted respect for the freedom of expression and the rights of
communication enshrined in the Constitution and international human
rights instruments. The law shall define its organization, functioning, and
forms of public participation.
SECTION 9: Science, Technology, Innovation and Ancestral Wisdom

ARTICLE 144. The Umonhon national system of science, technology, innovation
and ancestral wisdom, in the framework of respect for the environment,
nature, life, cultures and sovereignty, shall have as its end purpose the
following:
1. To generate, adapt, and disseminate scientific and technological
knowledge.
2. To restore, strengthen and upgrade Umonhon ancestral wisdom.
3. To develop technologies and innovations that promote national
production, raise efficiency and productivity, improve the quality of life and contribution to the achievement of the good way
of living.
302

ARTICLE 145. The system shall be comprised of programs, policies, resources,
actions and shall incorporate Umonhon Nation institutions, public and private research institutes, public and private enterprise, nongovernmental
organizations and natural persons or legal entities, to the extent that
they undertake activities of research, technological development, innovation and those linked to ancestral wisdom. The Umonhon Nation,
through the competent body, shall coordinate the system and set goals
and policies, in conformity with the Umonhon National Development Plan
and with the participation of the players comprising it.
ARTICLE 146. The following shall be responsibilities of the Umonhon Nation:
1. To facilitate and promote incorporation into the knowledge society to achieve the objectives of the Umonhon development
system.
2. To promote the generation and production of knowledge, to
foster scientific and technological research, and to upgrade
Umonhon ancestral wisdom to thus contribute to the achievement of the good way of living.
3. To ensure dissemination of and access to scientific and technological knowledge, discoveries and findings in the framework of
what was established in the Umonhon Constitution and the law.

4. To guarantee the liberty of creation and research in the framework of respect for ethics, nature, the environment, and restoration of Umonhon ancestral wisdom.
5. To recognize the status of researcher in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 147. The Umonhon Nation shall allocate the resources needed for scientific research, technological development, innovation, scientific training,
restoration and development of Umonhon ancestral wisdom, and the dissemination of knowledge. A percentage of these resources shall be earmarked for funding projects by means of competitive funds. Organizations that receive public funding shall be subject to accountability and
the respective control.
SECTION 10: Risk Management
ARTICLE 148. The Umonhon Nation shall protect persons, communities and nature against the adverse impacts of natural or manmade disasters by
risk prevention, disaster mitigation, restoration and improvement of social, economic and environmental conditions, for the purpose of minimizing the condition of vulnerability. The Umonhon national decentralized
system for risk management is comprised of risk management units
from all local, regional, and national public and private institutions. The
Umonhon Nation shall exercise leadership of the technical body established by law. It shall have the following main duties, among others:
303

1. To identify existing and potential internal and external risks affecting the territory of the Umonhon.
2. To generate, democratize the access to, and disseminate information that is sufficient and timely to adequately manage risk.
3. To ensure that all public and private institutions obligatorily incorporate risk management as a cross-cutting issue in their
planning and management.
4. To build up among the Umonhon citizenry and in public and private institutions capacities to identify risks that are inherent to
their respective spheres of action, to report about them, and
incorporate actions aimed at reducing them.
5. To articulate institutions so they will coordinate actions to prevent and mitigate risks, as well as address them, recover and
improve conditions prior to the occurrence of the emergency
or disaster.
6. To undertake and coordinate the actions needed to reduce vulnerabilities and prevent, mitigate, tackle, and recover from
possible adverse impacts stemming from disasters or emergencies on the Umonhon Nation’s territory.
7. To guarantee sufficient and timely funding to ensure functioning of the System as a whole and to coordinate international
cooperation aimed at risk management.
ARTICLE 149. Risks shall be managed on the basis of the principle of subsidiary
decentralization, which shall imply the direct responsibility of the institutions in their geographical area. When their capacities for risk management are insufficient, the institutions with the broadest territorial scope
and greatest technical and financial capacity shall provide the support
needed with respect to their authority in the territory and without relieving them of their responsibility.

SECTION 11: Population and Human Mobility
ARTICLE 150. The Umonhon Nation shall draft and implement demographic policies that contribute to balanced territorial and inter-generational development and guarantee protection of the environment and security of the
population, in the framework of respect for self-determination of persons
and diversity.
ARTICLE 151. The Umonhon Nation shall safeguard the rights of persons with respect to human mobility as stated in Article 87, Section 13, Division 3
of this Constitution, and shall exercise leadership through the competent
body, in coordination with the different levels of government. The Umonhon Nation shall design, adopt, implement, and evaluate policies, plans,
304

programs, and projects and shall coordinate the action of its bodies with
that of other States and civil society organizations that work on human
mobility at the international levels.
SECTION 12: Human Safety
ARTICLE 152. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee human safety by means of
integrated policies and actions to ensure the peaceful coexistence of persons, to promote a culture of peace and to prevent forms of violence and
discrimination and the perpetration of offenses and crimes. The planning
and application of these policies shall be entrusted to specialized bodies
at the different levels of government.

SECTION 13: Transportation
ARTICLE 153. The Umonhon Nation shall guarantee the freedom of overland, air,
and river transport within the Nation’s territory, without privileges of any
kind. The promotion of mass public transportation and the adoption of a
policy for differentiated transportation rates shall be a priority. The
Umonhon Nation shall regulate overland, air, and water transportation
activities.

Tribal Council 1910, Walthill, NE
[Back row from the left] is Silas Wood, Ardent Sauconci and Jim Blackbird. [Front
row,from left] is Dan Webster, Jacob Parker and Hiram Chase.
OTHRP Archives

305

UMOnHOn GOVERNMENT

Umonhon Pipe
Giffen & Tibbles, Ibid. p. 23

N
Teçinde
Buffalo Tail
n

Tapa’
Deer

Ingthezhide

Red Buffalo Calf

Inshta’cunda:
No Clan

n

Mo ’thi kagaxe
Earthmaker

Inshta’cunda
Flashing Eyes

Inshta’çunda
Sky People

W

Path to the Sun

E

Hongashenu

Konçe

Earth People

Wind

We’zhinshte
Elk

n

Ho gashenu
No Clan
Inkeçabe

Black Shoulder

Tha’tada
Small Bird

S

Honga

First There

OTHRP Archives

Proposed New HU’THUGA

James Blackbird Smithsonian

Traditional UMOnHOn FAMILY CLAN NAMES
Hongashenu: Earth People
We'zhinshte: Elk
Tha'tada:
Black
Small Bird
Brown
Canby
Henderson
Cayou
Tyndall
Sheridan
Wells
Webster
Woodhull
n
I keçabe:
Bear*
Black Shoulder
Cline
Lovejoy
Hastings
Mitchell
Bird*
McCauley
Fields
Stabler
Parker
Davis
Buffalo Head
Merrick
(Eagle)*
Springer
Freemont
Walker
Little Black Bear*
Wood
Jewett
White
n
Ho ga: First
There

Morris
Robinson
Solomon
Thomas

Warner

Turtle*

Edwards
Parker
Peabody
Konçe: Wind
Drum
Gilpin
*Subclan

Inshta'cunda: Sky People
Monthinkagaxe:
Earthmaker
Blackbird
Porter
Sherman
Teçinde:
Buffalo Tail
Walker
White
Tapa': Deer
Furnas
Grant
Hamilton
Levering
Lyon(s)
Phillips
Preston
Smith
Turner
Wolf(e)

Inkedezhide:
Red Buffalo Calf
Clay
Dale
Kemp
Penn
Reese
Inshtaçunda:
Flashing Eyes
Baxter
Clark
Cook
Cox
Esau
Hallowell
Harlan
Miller
Ramsey

OTHRP Archives

Scraping a skin, Ibid., La Flesche/Fletcher Fig 71, p.
344, Dressing Skins Tools A. We'bazhabe, B.
We'uhi Ibid., Fig 70, p. 343

Proposed Umonhon Government Structure
National Assembly

Meets twice a year: January and July with an option to also meet April and October. It is open to all enrolled members on the reservation, and includes those
off the Reservation.

Four Branches of Government and Their Jurisdictions
Community
Problem Solving

Town Area,
Nation
International
Development

Reservation
Development

Judicial
6 positions

Ombudsman
4 positions

Keepers
12 positions

Council
12 positions

1. Judge
2. Prosecutor
3. Defense
Lawyer
4. Keepers
Lawyer
5. Council
Lawyer
6. Secretary
7 Recording
Clerk
8. Comptroller

1. Hongashenu
2. Hongashenu
3. Inshta'cunda
4. Inshta'cunda

Hongashenu
1. Agriculture
2. Business Growth
3. Education
4. Housing
5. Indian Child Welfare
6. Medical

Hongashenu
1. We'zhinshte
2. Inkeçabe
3. Honga
4. Tha'tada
5. Hongashenu No Clan
6. Konçe

Inshtaçunda
7. Security & Fire
8. Social Services
9. Traditional Religion
10. Umonhon Culture
11. Utilities
12. Wildlife

Inshtaçunda
7. Monthinkagaxe
8. Teçinde
9. Tapa'
10. Inkedezhide
11. Inshta'cunda No
Clan
12. Inshta'cunda

Elected
Positions

4 clans
Represented
2 from each
division.
Elected
Positions

Elected Positions

T

Elected Positions

Proposed Transition Period

here will be a necessary transition period from the old 1934-based Constitution to the implementation of the new Constitution. A Council of Elders can be set up to oversee this.
They would take the time to set up a workshop open to all Umonhon to understand the new
Constitution. Such workshops could then be used to educate the tribal community as to how
their new government would work. This council could then contact the existing clans and work
to create the two new clans for the No Clan members. Once that is established the “No Clans”
can rename themselves and create Sub-clans for specific families within the Clan.
It is estimated that it could take up to five years to make all the changes necessary. Starting
the process would be an election for the various branches of government and followed with the
creation of a series of workshops with those elected so that they would completely understand
their roles under the new Constitution.
Once the new government is established, the work to change the system from fossil fuel and
toxic lands to a healthy renewable and organic lifestyle begins. Production of food and renewable energy would be a top priority.
Education that included language, culture and technical education would be introduced into the
reservation schools. Provisions to help addiction problems can be set up and those who choose
not to change would be asked to leave the reservation.
Special classes can be arranged to inform the new members of the details of their new jobs,
resources etc. So they do not have to learn on the job but be prepared for their new jobs.

309

Reservation Road Jeff Mohr, OTHRP Archives

DIVISION 6: FOUR BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
SECTION 1: Hu’thuga: Tribal Circle
ARTICLE 154. Ancestrally the Umonhon Nation consists of two divisions and ten
clans. Hongashenu: Earth People Division containing the following clans:
We'zhinshte: Elk; Inkeçabe: Black Shoulder; Honga: First There;
Tha'tada: Small Bird; Konçe: Wind. Inshta'cunda: Sky People Division
containing the following clans: Monthinkagaxe: Earthmaker; Teçinde: Buffalo Tail; Tapa': Deer; Inkedezhide: Red Buffalo Calf; Inshtaçunda: Flashing Eyes. The clan membership is inherited through the father. Historically the number of clans fluctuated. The highest number of clans documented is 12 (twelve) clans. Because of the large number of Umo nhon
women who have both historically and currently married outside of the
Nation the children of these unions are considered clan-less. For those
family lines to have proper representation within the governing body of
the Umonhon Nation they need to have a clan representation.
ARTICLE 155. The Constitution provides several ways this may be handled utilizing both existing clans and creating two new clans:
1. People may petition to join existing clans low in numbers. Acceptance of the no clan family into the small clan would be up to
the existing clan.
2. Two new clans, one in each Division: Hongashenu No Clan and In-

Tribal Council with Thomas Sloan [back row, left] OTHRP Archives

311

shta'cunda No Clan. Families can create Sub-clans under these
clans.
3. Membership in these clans may be determined by family choice.
4. Families can be listed alphabetically then the list may be numbered 1-2, 1-2 and so forth, with the “1” becoming Hongashenu
No Clan and the “2” becoming Inshta'cunda No Clan.
5. Assignment may be made by a committee of the existing clans.
6. The number of families may be divided in half and that number
could may be used to create slips of paper with each division of
the two no clans written on one half of the slips of paper. Then
each family draws one piece of paper and join the no clan written
upon it.
The two new clans may be seated in the Hu’thuga as follows: the Hongashenu No Clan would take its place before the Konçe: Wind clan and
the Inshta'cunda No Clan would be placed before the Inshtaçunda: Flashing Eyes clan. This would keep the cross division alignment of clans in
the historic order. The Konçe: Wind clan would still be opposite the Inshtaçunda: Flashing Eyes clan and so forth.
It is recognized that there are many Umonhon tribal members that live in
the surrounding cities, namely Lincoln NE, Omaha NE, and Sioux City IA.
It is important to link them into the reservation. They should be able to
vote in elections and to encourage them to create Indian centers in the
three cities that could then link those centers to the reservation.
SECTION 2: Four Government Bodies
ARTICLE 156. The Umonhon Nation, in order to have a more inclusive and traditional government as well as one with checks and balances, will change
to the following governmental body consisting of four divisions: 1.
Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council; 2. Keepers of the Sacred: Institutional Representation; 3. Ni'kagahi sha'be: Ombudsman; and 4. Judicial.
SECTION 3: Ni'kagahi xu'de: Earth Leaders: Council
ARTICLE 157. Ni'kagahi xu'de: Earth Leaders: where all are alike. This is the
Council, consisting of twelve members, one from each clan, elected for
four years in staggered terms, term limit of two terms (eight years). After sitting out a full term minimum ex-Council members can run for election for another two terms. Each clan elects their own representative. All
state, federal and international government decisions are made by this
body. Their Jurisdiction covers State, Federal and International issues.
SECTION 4: Keepers or Advisors of the Sacred
ARTICLE 158. Keepers or Advisors of the Sacred: that which regulates the various aspects of life sustaining institutions is sacred. This is a body gov312

erning the various aspects of the Development of Umonhon communities,
including but not limited to the following areas.
Aspects of development are the center of life upon which the health,
welfare and lives are dependent upon; therefore by definition, are to be
regarded as a sacred trust. The representatives from the various areas
are elected from and by the people working within those areas. They
serve four year staggered terms, term limit of two terms (eight years).
After sitting out for a minimum of a full term ex-Keeper members can
run for election for another two terms. Members of this board will sit in
on Umonhon Nation Ni'kagahi xu'de Council meetings when issues that
pertain to their area of expertise are being discussed. In addition, they
will meet as often as necessary to create the presentation of issues in
their area of expertise that need to be addressed by the Ni'kagahi xu'de
Council and work with the other areas when interests overlap.
ARTICLE 159. Clans will participate with the Keepers in a traditional fashion. In
the old days rituals were split between two clans. These clans were opposite each other in the Hu’thuga such as the Konçe: Wind clan and the
Inshtaçunda: Flashing Eyes clan. Each clan would be assigned the Oversight of each of the 12 sacred areas, 1-6 would be given to the Hongashenu side while 7-12 would go to the Inshtaçunda side.

Hongashenu
1. Agriculture
2. Business Growth
3. Education
4. Housing
5. Indian Child Welfare
6. Medical

Inshtaçunda
7. Security & Fire
8. Social Services
9. Traditional Religion
10. Umonhon Culture
11. Utilities
12. Wildlife

This Oversight would be on a consulting basis, providing support/advice as
needed. These clan members may also train for careers within these categories in order to better educate the clan in oversight in that specific area.
ARTICLE 160. A Tribal Keeper Lawyer will be employed for the protection and
advancement of the rights of the Umonhon Nation. The lawyer so chosen
will submit a full resume and be given a thorough background check, including academic history and Nebraska Bar Association record. The lawyer is limited to the creation of appropriate documents and letters for
the Tribal Keepers and will limit participation to advising without prejudice the pros and cons of any proposal being considered as well as working on legal issues that may rise within the twelve areas of Reservation
Development. The Tribal Keeper Lawyer has no vote nor right to lobby
for any decision and should not sit in on Keeper meetings unless specifically asked to do so to explain legalities of a specific problem to be discussed. The Tribal Keeper Lawyer will be available for consultation for
the agencies specifically Indian Child Welfare and Social Services.
313

SECTION 5: Governing Body
"A [leader] must be a man who can govern himself." La Flesche/Fletcher, Ibid., p. 202
ARTICLE 161. The Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council shall be elected by the people for a
period of four (4) years at staggered intervals, and all Council members
shall be eligible for reelection at the end of their first term of office. The
procedure of election shall be decided by the qualified voters in public
assembly. At each election assembly a Temporary Election Chairman
and Secretary shall be selected by the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council in power,
under such rules and regulations as the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council may
prescribe.
ARTICLE 162. The officers of the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council shall be the Chair, the
Vice-Chair, the Secretary, and the Treasurer, who shall be selected by the
Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council from its own membership at the first meeting. The
officers shall serve one (1) year terms, or until the next regular election.
ARTICLE 163. The Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council members shall be elected on a staggered basis on the first Tuesday of November of every year. The first
election after the passage of this Constitution shall be held in 2021, at
which time all 12 positions on the Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council shall be filled.
For the purposes of this first election, those three (3) Council members
that received the highest number of votes shall serve four (4) year
terms, or until their successors are duly installed in office. The three (3)
Council members that received the fourth, fifth, and sixth highest number of votes shall serve three (3) year terms, or until their successors
are duly installed in office. The three (3) Councilmen that received the
seventh, eighth and ninth highest number of votes shall serve two (2)
year terms, or until their successors are duly installed in office. The
three (3) Councilmen that received the tenth, eleventh and twelfth highest number of votes shall serve one (1) year terms, or until their successors are duly installed in office. At the next election in 2022 and every
four (4) years thereafter, four (4) Councilmen shall stand for election
and serve four (4) year terms, or until their successors are duly installed
in office. Thirty (30) days notice of every regular election of Ni’kagahi
xu’de: Council, beginning in 2021, shall be given by the Ni’kagahi xu’de:
Council. Each Ni’kagahi xu’de: Council elected under this Constitution
shall take

[Text truncated at 120,000 characters. The full text is on the page linked above.]

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Aomaha_of_nebraska%3A4efe32dd58a2d2f9. Public record. Not legal advice.