A hundred years ago, Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) chief Deskaheh travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, to defend the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
He was prevented from speaking to the League of Nations — the predecessor of the United Nations — and now a century later, his successors continue the fight for recognition.
“As Deskaheh, I will not address the United Nations until the Haudenosaunee is recognized as a government,” said Deskaheh Steve Jacobs last week to the United Nations’ 16th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Deskaheh is a title — one of 50 chieftains in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, known historically as the Six
