American Indians and the Pavee of Ireland: The Struggle for Self-Determination through Fair and Accountable Police Services

The Pavee of Ireland and American Indians are indigenous peoples.¹ Each has struggled for self-determination against colonizers. This struggle continues today. For American Indians and the Pavee the primary colonizers have been the same, the British Empire, and subsequently those governments that took over from the British Empire, the Republic of Ireland and the United States of America.

American Indians and the Pavee face similar challenges within their national governments. These challenges include education, health care, housing, police services, and the criminal justice system. They also include the struggle to be included in those systems that affect their lives. Positions on advisory task forces and in government agencies are a critical component of self-determination. Both American Indians and the Pavee struggle for inclusion into those aspects of government from which they are routinely excluded. Questions for both include what approach they should take to advance their interests and whether they should operate in a national or an international arena.

There are fundamental differences, however, between the Pavee and American Indians. The negotiation of treaties between American Indian nations and the colonizers and later the US government was both an explicit and implicit recognition of the sovereignty of Indian nations. This recognition of sovereignty has served nations effectively over the centuries of contact. The treaties resulted in the control and ownership of land by Indian nations. The legal recognition of tribal governments and the US federal policy requiring a government-to-government relationship with tribal governments has advanced American Indian interests. Further, the creation of tribal police departments and the support for these departments through federal funding have been instrumental in achieving self-determination and the empowerment of American Indian tribal governments. However, for many American Indians, a move toward international recognition as indigenous is not essential. For them the treaties are the essential component.

The Pavee (also known as Irish Travellers and historically as tinkers) have been menders of pots and pans, recyclers of abandoned and cast-off materials, traveling entertainers, and carriers of an oral and musical culture that dates back at least two thousand years. Today they continue those roles and more. But they are now under siege by the dominant culture in the Republic of Ireland. The Pavee have never been recognized as sovereign people nor as indigenous by the Republic of Ireland. Unlike American Indians, they have no treaties with the Irish Republic. They are classified as one minority among others and are not yet even defined as an ethnic minority. There is some dissension among the people on the assertion of “indigenous” as an identity; therefore, the Pavee have not, as a group, asserted the rights of indigenous people. However, there is wide support within the community for definition as an “ethnic minority,” a definition that would allow some limited rights under the Irish Constitution. There is an unequivocal demand among the Pavee for recognition of their distinct identity and for this ethnicity to be reflected in law, policy, and practice. They have no land over which they have jurisdiction, nor are their organizations recognized as having any form of self-governance.

The Pavee are viewed by some in the Irish majority as a nuisance. Certain Irish government people view them as a contentious force that refuses to accede to the demands of the dominant society. During her term as president of the Republic of Ireland, Mary Robinson, later the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, attempted to focus attention within Ireland on the issues facing the Pavee. She initiated and supported the passage of laws and legislation to address the historical and legal inequities the Pavee have faced. Prior to her election as president of Ireland, Robinson, as a barrister, was involved in many high-profile cases that asserted Pavee rights. Some of these efforts bore fruit, and progress resulted. However, as revealed to this author during research in May and June 2011, much more work remains to be done.

During a meeting in May 2011 that included this author and members of the...