NATIVE HAWAIIANS SPEAK AT UNITED NATIONS
Pacific Region Influence Grows In High-Level Session At Fifth Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues
UN Headquarters, NY - Native Hawaiians and Pacific Region representatives join Indigenous leaders, senior United Nations officials, academics and over 1200 indigenous community members for the next two weeks to discuss challenges and strategies for improving conditions of the world’s indigenous peoples at the fifth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Koani Foundation, a Kaua`i based unity organization, is participating with other Native Hawaiian non-governmental organizations in articulating and addressing human rights, environmental, economic and social issues at the international forum.
“Hawaiians are treated like outcasts in their own homeland,” remarked Koani Foundation board member `Ehu Kekahu Cardwell. "The Hawaiian Nation survives today despite more than a century of belligerent occupation, forced assimilation, and cultural oppression.”
The Permanent Forum has designated health, education and inclusion in decision making for Indigenous Peoples as the focus for this year’s gathering.
The Koani Foundation is presenting recommendations on human rights and universal education for Pacific Region Indigenous Peoples.
“Hawaiian Nationals are proclaiming their identities; reclaiming their heritage, their land, resources and rights,” Cardwell stated. “They will never accept second class citizenship in their Hawai`i homeland.”
In addition to Polynesian Triangle members Hawai’i, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Rapa Nui (Easter Island), other Pacific Region participants include representatives from Australia, Fiji, Papua, Melanesia and Micronesia
The forum, which starts today and runs for two weeks through May 26th, was established in 2000 at the recommendation of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
For more information, contact the Koani Foundation at (808) 822-7643 or freehawaii@earthlink.net.
