Ka Hoʻokolokolonui Kānaka Maoli
Indigenous Rights Advance Human Rights for All Peoples
Ka Hoʻokolokolonui Kanaka Maoli was one of the significant events that resulted in the issuance of the US’ first apology by law to an Indigenous People and nation. US President Clinton’s signing of US Public Law 103-150 in November 1993, only three months after the Tribunal was held, recognizes that the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi are inherently sovereign and that the US deprived them of their rights to self-determination. The US also pledged within this law to support a reconciliation process to make amends for the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Although the law includes a disclaimer on the settlement of claims against the US, this does not necessarily nullify the significance of PL103-150, but instead compels the advocacy for and development of a successful process to assess loss of lands and rights and their return to the Kanaka Maoli people.
Ironically, Public Law 103-150 is a Joint Resolution of the US Congress, which enumerates US illegal actions and acts of war to annex the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi also by Joint Resolution, against the expressed will of its Queen Liliʻuokalani, and the Kanaka Maoli people. Almost every living Kānaka Maoli in 1897-98 signed the famous Kū’ē Petitions in “protest against annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America in any form or shape.” The Kū’ē Petitions were co-published by Nālani Minton and Noenoe Silva in 1998 and constitute the expressed political will of the Kanaka Maoli people in writing. The kāhea (call) for these documents to return to the people was given by Nālani Minton in preparation for the Tribunal proceedings and was fulfilled through the research of Dr. Silva.
The Tribunal continues to reverberate its profound and visionary effect on many levels. At the international level, the Tribunal influenced the process towards the formal recognition of Indigenous rights within international law. In 1994, Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell was honored as the convener of the Tribunal at the UN Geneva Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (UNWGIP). He was accompanied by Nālani Minton, Ulla Hasager, and other members of the Tribunal Kōmike. IWGIA (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs) that Ulla has worked with for many years, supported the presentations of the Tribunal interventions as the sponsoring NGO (Non-Governing Organization). In addition, Nālani was invited as a designated representative of the Tribunal by NGOs in Europe to speak about the events and verdict of the Tribunal in twelve cities, and participated in the UNWGIP meetings and forums during the UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples. This decade culminated in a Peoples World Peace Appeals at the Hague in Holland in 2000 and the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) at the UN in New York City.
As the ʻelele for the Tribunal, Nālani participated in the drafting process of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007, and constitutes the first time that International Law reflects the right of review, re-languaging and revision by Indigenous Peoples. Imbedded within the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the fundamental human right of self-determination, as is the right of all human beings under international law. Article 3 from the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples confirms that: “Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”
"Real liberation liberates the oppressor and the oppressed." - Gandhi