Report: Geneva and International Community
Aloha Kakou,
I returned home safe and sound late last Friday night from a month in Europe (and a side trip to the US). Much has happened during this trip that I am still digesting… And of course I am catching up on things here at home.
Mahalo nui loa! I am deeply grateful for the faithful support (prayers, aloha and finances) you all so generously provided. It all worked out well. Your support allowed the necessary flexibility to move with the unexpected twists in scheduling and circumstances. It also allowed us to malama those helping us along the way. Maika’i loa.
I spent the first two weeks of August in Geneva, Switzerland, then went to Brussels, the Hague and Amsterdam. Then I went to Washington, DC for a couple of days, then back to Geneva for five days. This was truly an important journey, one of great significance. Below is brief report.
The UN and Hawaii
Hawaii is no stranger to the UN. Over the years, Hawaii was well represented by people like: the late Kawaipuna Prejean in the 1970s; Poka Laenui through the 80s and 90s; Bumpy Kanahele (who continues to serve on an indigenous peoples council); Mililani Trask (who is a highly respected driving force at the UN for indigenous peoples); Kaiopua Fyfe (Koani Foundation); Malia Nobrega, Lilikala Kame’eleihiwa, Keli’i Gora, Joshua Cooper and others. All have served with distinction and people speak very warmly of them, both in Geneva and New York.
The reason I was in Geneva was to represent Hawaii (for the Koani Foundation and the Hawaiian Kingdom) at several United Nations conferences, in particular, the August meeting of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Kaiopua Fyfe of the Koani Foundation has been the point-man for us at the CERD in Geneva, but he couldn’t attend this year.
While bodies like the CERD do not directly determine the policies of the UN, they do provide an international platform, and they can refer our case to other bodies up the UN food chain, such as the Human Rights Council and the Decolonization Committee and even the UN General Assembly.
(In recent years, we have been working together with Alaska natives because their country was also unlawfully acquired and fraudulently made into a “state” by the US. The native Alaskans have a full-time ambassador in Geneva who has been working the ropes at the UN for over 20 years regarding this issue.)
Four years ago, in 2006, Hawaii and Alaska each filed a “Shadow Report” with the UN Human Rights Committee showing the US violated the UN charter and a number of UN procedures and regulations in making the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska into US “states.” The HRC recommended we file with the CERD. That was done in 2007 and again in 2008.
In the February 2008 CERD meeting there was a dramatic breakthrough. While the US was presenting its periodic report to the CERD, the Russian and Romanian committee members confronted the US with a series of strong, direct questions as to why Hawaii (and Alaska) were not yet independent nations. They were drawing their questions from the Shadow Reports! The US arrogantly ignored the questions and when the incident failed to appear on the final report (minutes) of the meeting, it became obvious that someone (the US?) was exerting political pressure (arm-twisting) to delete the incident and thus, avoid the issue. This backfired because instead of making it go away, the under-handed political maneuvering by the US piqued the interest of the rest of the international body. The question then became, what was the US trying to hide? The Russians and Romanians had opened the door and the US reaction to suppress, and the CERD’s apparent complicity in an apparent US cover-up, caused the CERD, in order to save face, to at least appear to be receptive to hear our case the next time around (August 2009).
So, taking advantage of this opportunity, we ramped up our petition effort for this August’s meeting, urging the CERD to issue a letter to the UN Decolonization Committee requesting it investigate the United States’ violations of UN policies and mandates (and other international laws) in claiming the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska as US states. The Alaska ambassador and other influential UN people went to bat for us and eventually managed to wrangle a dedicated meeting for us to give a face-to-face oral presentation to the CERD members (Which is why I flew back to Geneva from Washington, DC, and was joined by two Alaska tribal council chiefs who also flew in for the meeting).
Politics at the UN is way more intense than local or national politics. The players are much bigger and the stakes are much higher. Non-violent pursuit of independence, justice or fairness simply do not register as politically important to these guys. To them, the facts do not really matter, only political capital does. So issues of justice and liberty are usually given lip-service then relegated to die in endless layers of procedures and bureaucracy.
What it boils down to for us is that certain key leaders of the CERD are afraid of what the US would do to them if they were to help us in our pursuit of independence. These certain committee members know just how powerful the US government can be (e.g. The US’ recent breech of the strict confidentiality policies of the Swiss banks) so they are trying to dodge the issue by hiding behind excuses of procedures and mandates.
Despite the US’ behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, the Alaska/Hawaii team cleared some major hurdles during this meeting. We were able to use our face-to-face presentation with the committee members, to get our petition deeply embedded into their system. We are locked into a position that they cannot continue to avoid. Our petition is like a little nail sticking up through the sole of the shoe. At this point, every step this UN body takes, try as it may, it cannot sidestep or dismiss our petition. Eventually the pain from the nail pricks will become too severe to ignore and they will have to satisfy our petition or become permanently crippled.
The Alaska/Hawaii team left the CERD’s opposing committee members no excuses, no way to dismiss our petition on technicalities such as procedures or lack of documentation or information. They cannot duck out with “ees not my job, man!” We showed them that this responsibility is clearly spelled out in their UN mandate. We are determined to stay on top of them and not allow them to wiggle out.
Alaska/Hawaii will continue to provide the CERD with updates, such as the August 21 activities exposing Hawaii as a fake state. The fake state demonstrations in Hawaii came at the tail end of the CERD meeting in Geneva when certain committee members were cynically asking, “Is there support back home for independence?” Wow, did they get an eye/ear full! Especially with the NY Times and USA today articles.
One of the key elements in winning a battle is how you position yourself. As a result, of the past month’s activities, the Alaska/Hawaii petition is very well positioned for passage. As our campaigns on other fronts intensify, we expect the CERD will find strong incentives to act favorably on our petition during their next meeting in the Spring.
The International Community
As an added benefit, Hawaii’s presence at the CERD also provided us access to the diplomatic delegations and the multi-national community in Geneva. We used this opportunity to greatly expand our base of friends and supporters for Hawaiian independence. Our strategy is to engage the broader international community and prompt them to echo and amplify the questions raised at the CERD last year by Russia and Romania regarding correcting Hawaii’s impaired condition (due to the prolonged occupation by the US) and to notch up the discussion to another level of awareness on the world platform.
While in Europe I also called on other diplomatic delegations, international bureaus and organizations in Berne (Switzerland), Brussels (Belgium) and the Hague (Netherlands) to discuss our reactivation of Hawaii’s independence. Numerous opportunities are open to us. I can honestly say that upon hearing our story, these diplomatic entities and agencies are very supportive and are eager to help in whatever way they can. This is crucial because these are entities outside the confines and limitations of a corporate body like the UN. They can act independently to be the “ice-breakers,” the first in line, to support our cause.
Our plan is to activate a variety of international mechanisms that will deal directly with the Hawaiian Kingdom as an independent nation, thus out-flanking the US efforts to keep us contained. Our developing these various types of international relations will eventually force the U.S. to abandon its fraudulent claim of Hawaii being a “state” (of the US) and trigger the end of US occupation of both Hawaii and Alaska.
Aloha Aina,
Malama pono,
Leon