Walter Echo-Hawk honored for commitment to human rights by international organization
OKLAHOMA CITY – The International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA) recently presented Crowe & Dunlevy attorney Walter Echo-Hawk with the President’s Award for his commitment to human rights.
Echo-Hawk is a member of Crowe & Dunlevy’s Indian Law & Gaming practice group, which provides legal representation for American Indian tribes in Oklahoma. He has been a human rights attorney since 1973 and devoted most of his legal career at the Native American Rights Fund (1973-2009) and at Crowe & Dunlevy to protecting American Indians’ human rights, which include rights to culture, self-determination, religious freedom, land and natural resources.
“I am honored to receive this recognition,” Echo-Hawk said. “However, I was only one of many legal foot-soldiers in the tribal sovereignty movement during the modern era of federal American Indian law. I accept this award on behalf of all of the clients and attorneys I have worked with over the years.”
Echo-Hawk accepted the President’s Award in San Diego, Calif., at the 64th IAOHRA conference. The association was founded in 1949 and has provided leadership in the development and enforcement of statutes to safeguard civil and human rights. Membership consists of 160 human rights agencies in the United States and Canada, as well as individual practitioners of human and civil rights protection and Americans of goodwill.
