Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 7, 1 July 1985 — On Human Rights [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

On Human Rights

By Hayden Burgess Oahu Trustee

Recently, I was invited to attend and deliver a paper before a conference on human rights held in Fiji. More than 100 people from throughout Asia and the Pacific attended the conferenee sponsored by LAWASIA, an international organization of lawyers, judges, professors and others in the field of law.

The purpose of the conference was to address the issue: Should a Human Rights Commission be established in the Pacific? Report after report detailed the atrocities and violations to human rights taking plaee in the Pacific supporting the need for such a commission. From New Caledonia, Yann Uregei spoke of French invasion and takeover of the Kanak people's lands, forcing French lifestyles upon the Kanak, manipulating the election process and assasinating Kanak leadership. Jackie Droillet of Tahiti recounted French invasion and conversion of their islands into nuclear test sites totally disregarding the Maohi people's strong protest. From the Micronesian islands of Belau, Roman Bedor gave a detailed report on the American government's refusal to set Belau free unless the people agreed to allow the U.S. to bring their nuclear ships into Belau's territory even though the lives of every person in Belau would thus be jeopardized. One of the most eloquent speakers was Christian Weeremantry, a Professor of International Law at Monash University, an author, lecturer and former justice of the Supreme Court of his country, Sri Lanka (an independent island-nation off the southeastern coast of lndia and formerly known as Ceylon). In a sentence he connected for me the essence of the struggle for independence and its relationship to human rights. He said: Self-determination is the father and mother of all human rights. His statement immediately brought to mind the overthrow of the legitimate and popularly supported Hawaiian government by the armed forces of the United States in 1893. That act of war was an attack upon our self-determination, terminated our human rights to our native language, to our lands, water, and oeean, to our self-esteem and our dreams. 1 spoke of the decades of aristocratic rule over every aspect of life in Hawaii and how that rule was enforced and protected by the U.S. military. I spoke of the systematic and deliberate use of an "educational" system to break down, brainwash and reform Hawaiian children into American children. I related how schools taught about "Dick and Jane" and about snow and many other things whieh were irrelevant to our reality in Hawaii. I told of our loss of faith in our ability to survive without the Americans; of a onee proud and selfsufficient people of Polynesia forced to act like yankees; of a onee independent nation robbed and made into a miniature USA in the Pacific — America's military fort in the middle of the oeean. The facts of Hawaii's history and its effects on its people shocked the conference members, many of whom were themsel ves victims of spiritual and cultural genocide by eolonizing nations. After my presentation, many people eame up and said that Hawaii's situation represented the clearest and most blatant example of the destruction and denial of a people's human rights. They said that the U.S. should be ashamed of its conduct and that the world should be told of Hawaii's story. Many of you have said we must get our story into the international community. Progress was made in Fiji. Professor Weeremantry will be reporting Hawaii's story in his next text book on International Law. Soon, our story will also be told in the Malaysian law magazine. Other publications in the Pacific and Asia have already or will soon report it. After mueh discussion, the conference members eoncluded that a Human Rights Commission should be established in the Pacific and invited me to sit as a member of the working group to help in its establishment. If you would like a copy of the paper I introduced at the LAWASIA conference or information on other issues I am aware of or involved in, please eall the OHA office and ask to have them sent to you.