KE AUPUNI UPDATE - OCTOBER 2026
Stirrings at the UN
From September 21-30 I was at the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. I’ve been going there three times a year since 2009 as the Foreign Minister for the Hawaiian Kingdom.
The UN Human Rights Council and other key operations of the UN in Geneva are accessible platforms to which we can present our issues to the attention of the UN, something that is difficult to do at the UN in New York.
It is in Geneva that we have made significant progress in sharing our story and gaining traction with the international community and the international press. Over the years, diplomats’ and UN personnel’s response to the Hawaiian Kingdom’s quest to assert our international standing as an independent nation has morphed from, “Good luck!” to “Do you really think the US will let you go?” to “What can we do to help?”
This “What can we do to help?” attitude resulted in numerous meetings in Geneva with key diplomats, UN experts and civil society activists. From those discussions, a number of strategic actions that could help Hawaii have emerged. Several proposals were vetted and have been developed for activation in the next few months. At that point, much of our efforts will pivot to the UN General Assembly in New York.
Thus, from Geneva, I went to New York for the last week of the opening of the 81st.Session of the UN General Assembly. The opening of the GA is always a flurry of activities as most of the leaders of the 193 United Nations member countries converge to deliver their remarks at what is called the High-Level Meeting and General Debate.
The week after that flurry is a good time to meet with the ambassadors from the different countries, as the leaders delegations from their capitals have left, but the permanent diplomatic missions in New York are still excited and invigorated by the aspirational remarks (and marching orders) given by their leaders from home.
The actions and strategies that we developed at the UN in Geneva (and at other international meetings) are geared to assert the continuity of the Hawaiian Kingdom and at the same time, expose the United States’ false claim over the Hawaiian Islands. This recent visit to New York was to set the stage for the two-pronged assertion at the General Assembly. Some Pacific Island nations are preparing to take the lead.
The international community, its agencies and institutions and people, are about to be presented with the irrefutable evidence confirming that the political status of the Hawaiian Kingdom is indeed that of a sovereign nation in continuity.
That evidence is a book titled: The Hawaiian Kingdom and the United Nations Charter a collaborative work by scholar/writer Prof Mehmet Guzel and me. We spent over 10 years formulating the book while working on other projects. In 2017 Mehmet and I co-authored and published a book titled, The Modus Vivendi Situation of West Papua, which got some significant notices in international circles and contributed to our being nominated for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. (We lost to an international peace consortium run by friends of mine. So, it was still in the family.)
The book is a legal study and analysis of the situation of Hawaii as it relates to international law, and specifically, to the United Nations Charter. It unequivocally confirms that the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands was never extinguished and that the Kingdom is a sovereign nation in continuity. This fact then places a legal obligation to each of the member-countries of the United Nations. If Hawaii is a sovereign nation in continuity, then according to international law and specifically the UN Charter, each country has a legal obligation to recognize and treat the Hawaiian Kingdom as an equal sovereign country.
This will automatically `trigger de-occupation negotiations with the United States to create a peaceful, orderly transition of the Hawaiian Islands to self-governance as an independent country.
The Hawaiian Kingdom and the United Nations Charter will be available online in downloadable form and in print soon.
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
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)
