KE AUPUNI UPDATE - JUNE 2025
Adversarial or Diplomatic
The UN has 4 headquarters. The two main ones are in New York and Geneva, Switzerland. The other two are in Vienna, Austria and Nairobi, Kenya.
The biggest UN facility by far is the one that sprawls over 114 acres in Geneva, Switzerland, which is where I visit several times a year to maintain advocacy for Hawaii’s independence. I also make trips to the iconic New York headquarters three or four times a year. This Ke Aupuni Update is coming to you from Geneva where I am currently winding down from another visit to the UN Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations.
People in Hawaii often confuse the UN in Geneva, with the international courts at The Hague. They are not the same. The Hague is a city in the Netherlands and is the home to three of the most prominent international courts: the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The famous Lance Larsen v. the Hawaiian Kingdom case took place in the year 2000 there at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Conflating Geneva and the Hague not only reveals confusion over the venue for settling international disputes, it reveals confusion over the approach for settling disputes: legal or political. Or another way of putting it, adversarial or diplomatic.
Because we have been focused so much on the legal wrongs in what happened to us in Hawaii, we tend to see everything in legal terms. The misuse of laws to take our lands, our identity, and abuses to our rights and our freedoms keep us fixated on looking at legal mechanisms and remedies.
Therefore, many think that our going to the UN is like going to a court. It is not. The difference between the legal and diplomatic approach.
In a court of law, legal arguments are presented and judges or other persons in authority make decisions based on how good your legal arguments are. The legal approach creates an adversarial setting, where legal experts battle each other about points of law, with one side eventually beating the other side, winning a judgement in its favor.
But diplomacy is not an argument, it’s a negotiation. It works best by making friends and respecting one another. By seeking how things can be worked out. By bringing goodwill and friendliness into the picture to resolve a problem together. It is more on the line of ho’oponopno, putting things into proper balance.
The legal approach is like making war. The diplomatic approach is making Aloha. That is definitely more our style.
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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"Remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom, check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
