And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes:
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 03:00:44 -1000
From: Richard N Salvador <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Pacific HAP Forum Report (please forward)
STATEMENT OF THE PACIFIC HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE FORUM
With a Focus on Human and Indigenous Rights
On March 12, 1999, indigenous and Pacific island peoples met in Honolulu,
Ka Pae`aina (Hawai`i) in response to the International Hague Appeal for
Peace conference scheduled for this May (wwww.haguepeace.org). Presenters
addressed issues of importance to the Pacific region within the four
program "strands" of the International Hague conference, namely: 1)
International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and Institutions; 2) The
Prevention, Resolution and Transformation of Violent Conflict; 3)
Disarmament, including Nuclear Abolition; and 4) The Root Causes of War and
a Culture of Peace. These presentations all acknowledged that human and
indigenous rights, disarmament and nuclear abolition, and efforts to end
colonialism and neocolonialism through conflict resolution and nonviolent
action are of the utmost concern to many Pacific and indigenous peoples
today.
Our keynote speaker, Maori indigenous rights leader Te Moana Jackson,
stressed how international law had historically been a covenant made
between European nations which allowed them the right to dispossess
non-Christian indigenous lands. Jurisdiction of laws derived from the Papal
Bulls pertained to "civilized lands" and applied to lands "discovered."
Jackson said, "They [the European powers] did to indigenous peoples what
they would not do to themselves." Peace, for him, "is to be content in your
homeland, to have the sovereign right to say what happens in your land.
Peace requires decolonization, not neocolonialism." The issue of
decolonization was an important theme of the forum. Decolonization implies
demilitarization, denuclearization, disarmament and political and economic
independence through education and social justice.
While the HAP "Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century Discussion
Draft" is bold and extensive in its approach, it needs to move beyond the
conventional practice of human rights based primarily on the notion of
individual rights. This is because individual rights, as defined largely by
conventional international instruments and declarations, are too narrow and
do not fully express the entire range of issues of concern to indigenous
peoples, e.g., when collective rights are exerted by indigenous peoples for
cultural purposes. Also, much of the Discussion Draft appears to be largely
based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which does not
adequately address indigenous peoples' concerns, particularly the right of
self-determination (see Naqomi Kipuri, "The Universal Declaration Of Human
Rights, How I Wish It Were True," Dec. 10, 1998).
During this UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples, international organizations,
such as the United Nations, and governments have a moral responsibility to
facilitate the peace and decolonization process. In addition, global civil
society initiatives like the HAP have a key opportunity to promote and
assist the process as well. In the last several years indigenous peoples
have made significant progress in their struggles for peace and justice and
are now formulating key documents, such as the Draft Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Kari Oca Declaration, and the Declaration
of Vision, to be presented at the Hague conference in May. Below is the
preamble of a people's treaty which emerged after several conferences held
in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia in 1978, Kailua, Ka Pae`aina
(Hawai`i) in 1980, and in Port Villa, Vanuatu in 1983. This subsequently
became the People's Charter for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific.
This then is a consensus document expressing indigenous and Pacific island
people's vision of a peaceful and just future.
*********************************************************
The People's Charter For A Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Preamble:
1. We, the people of the Pacific want to make our position clear. The
Pacific is home to millions of people with distinct cultures, religions and
ways of life and we refuse to be abused or ignored any longer.
2. We, the people of the Pacific, have been victimized too long by foreign
powers. The Western imperialistic and colonial powers invaded our
defenseless region, they took over our lands and subjugated our people to
their whims. This form of alien colonial political and military domination
unfortunately persists as an evil cancer in some of our native territories
such as Tahiti-Polynesia, Kanaky, Australia and Aotearoa. Our environment
continues to be despoiled by foreign powers developing nuclear weapons. for
a strategy of warfare that has no winners, no liberators and imperils the
survival of all humankind.
3. We, the people of the Pacific will assert and wrest control over the
destiny of our nations and our environment from foreign powers, including
Transnational Corporations.
4. We note in particular the recent racist roots of the world's nuclear
powers and we call for an immediate end to the oppression, exploitation and
subordination of the indigenous people of the Pacific.
5. Our environment is further threatened by the continuing deployment of
nuclear arsenals in so called strategic areas throughout the Pacific. Only
one nuclear submarine has to be lost in the sea, or one nuclear warhead
dumped in our ocean from a stricken bomber and the threat to the fish and
our livelihood is endangered for centuries. The erection of superports,
military bases and nuclear testing stations may bring employment but the
price is destruction of our customs, our way of life, the pollution of our
crystal clear waters and bring the ever present threat of disaster by
radioactive poisoning into the every day life of the people.
6. We, the people of the Pacific reaffirm our intention to extract only
those elements of western civilization that will be of a permanent benefit
to us. We wish to control our destinies and protect our environment in our
own ways. Our usage of our natural resources in the past was more than
adequate to ensure the balance between nature and humankind. No form of
administration should ever seek to destroy that balance for the sake of
brief commercial gain.
*********************
WITH RESPECT FOR ALL LIFE, WE THANK YOU.
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S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2
EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html
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