Iroquois Unable to Play in World Lacrosse Championship
05.54The 2010 World Lacrosse Championship is currently talking place in England and the Iroqouis Nationals, a team composed of members of the Native American tribes that make up the Iroquois Confederacy whom are credited with inventing the sport, have been denied entry to the UK in a passport dispute. The Nationals travel on passports issued by the Iroquois which the UK refuse to recognize, citing among other reasons the lack of holographic and other enhancement put into travel documents following 9/11. The UK has demanded that the members of the Nationals also carry US or Canadian passports.
The US, at first unwilling to recognize the Iroquois passport, came around after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton granted the team a one time waiver in an attempt to meet the UK's initial condition that the Nationals demonstrate the ability to get back into the US. Once that condition was met however the UK then refused to admit the team with only their tribal passports under any circumstances.
What needs to be done to avoid circumstances like this in the future is for the State Department to sit down with representatives of the National Congress of American Indians, an umbrella body of tribes, and hammer out the requirements for tribal passports that are necessary for US and worldwide recognition and then allow the tribes to implement those requirements, with technical assistance from the US State Department's passport service to the extent necessary.
Here's a video report on the situation:
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