Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 3, 1 April 2002 — Trask named to unprecedented UN indigenous forum [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Trask named to unprecedented UN indigenous forum

By Manu Boyd Mililani B, Trask, former OHA trustee and longtime sovereignty advocate, recently was named a United Nations diplomat by the U,N,'s Eeonomie and Social Council of the General Assembly, the primary decision-making body of the U.N, The establishment of the Permanent Forum on īndigenous Issues will give native people of the world an unprecedented voice and vote, Trask, whose three-year term begins in May, is among 16 members of the Forum; eight indigenous experts, and eight state-nominated experts, The indigenous experts, whieh include Trask representing the United States, are Antonio Jacanamijoy, Colombia; Ayitegau Kouevi, Togo; Willie Littlechild, Canada; Ole Henrik Magga, Norway; Zinaida Strogalschikova, Russian Federation; Parshuram Tamang, Nepal; Fortunato Turpo Choquehuanca, Peru; and statenominated experts: Yuri A, Boitchenko, Russian Federation;

Njuma Ekundanayo, Democratic Republic of Congo; Yuji īwasawa, Japan; Wayne Lord, Canada; Otilla Lux de Coti, Guatemala; Marcos Matias Alonso, Mexico; Ida Nicolaisen, Denmark, "ī will represent the Pacific Basin," said Trask, citing the island nations' critical need for decolonization, and the basic need for housing, health and education, "There is also bloodshed in this region in Bouganville, Papua New Guinea, in Tahiti's struggle for independence and especially East Timor, The forum will travel to indigenous areas around the world to dialogue and to work toward resolution," At a press conference at the Queen Lili'uokalani Statue in Honolulu, the four organizations who sponsored Trask's nomination attended: PONO (Protect Our Native 'Ohana), a Hawaiian advocacy group working in the prisons; The Royal Order of Kamehameha, Hilo Chapter; Nā Kūpuna, O'ahu; and Nā Wāhine Hale o Papa o Hālawa, Toni Yardley, a Hale o Papa

representative, and an accredited NGO (non-governmental organization) representative, recounted the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, "Ten years ago, it required 20,000 NGO members to march into downtown Rio to protest for indigenous Brazilian access into the NGO Global Village to whieh they had been denied, "īt was at the Earth Summit where a declaration was signed to create a permanent forum for indigenous issues, īt took another seven years to formalize and another three years to form a eouneil, Now, a 'small voice' has a plaee to be heard," Yardley said, "This is a great victory for the 300,000,000 indigenous people around the world," said Trask, The creation of this permanent forum accepts the fact that indigenous people need to be at the table discussing issues that affect their lives," she said, "What remains to be seen is the willingness of the nation states to accept advice and direction authored by these indigenous legal experts,"

The inaugural meeting of the permanent Forum on īndigenous īssues will be held in New York May 13-24. ■

Trcisk ciclclresses the meeliei with ei crowcl of supporters inclucling kupunei einel the Roycil Orcler of Keimeheimehei HilO ChCipter, Photo: Manu Boyd