Ka Hoʻokolokolonui Kānaka Maoli

The findings of the judges were that:

1. The United States violated nā kānāwai (Kānaka Maoli law) and elements of customary international law, as well as its own Declaration of Independence.

2. The United States accelerated its interventions in the internal affairs of Ka Lāhui Kānaka Maoli, abridging and impairing its sovereign functioning and right to self-determination. The US also violated the terms of at least three ratified and binding treaties: the 1826 Convention between Commodore A.P. Catesby Jones of the US and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III); the 1850 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Kamehameha III and the US; and the 1875 Treaty of Reciprocity between the Hawaiian Islands and the US.

3. In 1893, the US openly supported a coup d’etat conducted by [foreign settlers] against the legitimate government of Ka Lāhui Kānaka Maoli. Thereafter, for a period of five years, the US openly supported the usurping regime by use of armed force against the indigenous population of Hawai'i. In 1898, the US annexed Ka Paeʻāina o Hawai'i (the Hawaiian Archipelago), neither obtaining the consent nor consulting the Kānaka Maoli.

4. Following annexation, the United States forcibly subordinated, degraded and systematically dispossessed the Kānaka Maoli and incorporated Hawaiʻi into the Union as a State.

5. Under provision of Article 20 of the Charter of the Organization of American States, all US assertions of jurisdiction and property title in the Hawaiian Islands are legally invalid.

6. Kānaka Maoli sovereignty has not been extinguished by the illegal actions of the United States. The overthrow of 1893 and purported annexation of 1898 merely changed the nature of the operative state but did not remove the inherent right of the people to sovereignty.

7. The Kānaka Maoli are morally and legally entitled to reassert their right to self-determination under provision of UN General Assembly Resolution 1514.

8. Blood quantum is ethnocidal and is contrary to the virtual entirety of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

9. The Kānaka Maoli have been subjected to ongoing processes of genocide, both physical and cultural, at the hands of the US government and the government of the State of Hawai'i, which violates nā kānāwai, as well as the 1948 Convention for Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

10. The Kānaka Maoli have exhausted all existing peaceful avenues for rectifying the multiplicity of wrongs done to them. Consequently, they are entitled on an urgent basis, to explore potentially more productive approaches, such as mediated negotiations with the US Department of State [nation to nation].

Cultural Law and Self-Determination

The judges and the prosecutor advocates found “indigenous Kanaka Maoli understanding of law to be an indispensable and powerful” foundation for their verdict and believe that “the laws, experience and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples globally are helping the democratic movements of all peoples.”

It is the considered view of the Tribunal that the further conception of the term "law," which recognizes the validity of indigenous wise practices, legal processes, and conflict resolution, is required if the international community is to end the oppression of Indigenous Peoples. … [The] testimony of many witnesses referred to the basic law of Kapu which defined, among other things the sacredness of land and the special sanctity of burial sites, [wahi pana, sacred places] and heiau and the means by which they [need to] be protected.

Other testimony explained the application of concepts such as mālama (to care for, protect) and nā kānāwai [fair distribution laws relating to food, water and other resources]. This, and other evidence, clearly established the existence of a complex legal system within [Kanaka Maoli] society.

The observance and implementation of fundamental laws was an inherent part of the social behaviors determined by, and expected within, the total collective. Many examples of sanctions imposed [for the collective good] were placed before the Tribunal, including instances of immediate dispatch of persons for the wrongful taking of [food, water and] other resources. The weight of evidence produced leads us to make the following statements of fact:

a) That a clearly identifiable legal process operated as an integral and interrelated part of Kanaka Maoli life [and stewardship].

b) That [cultural laws and] legal philosophies … still operat[e] in the relationship and [protective] attitudes of Kānaka Maoli to their land and natural resources.

c) That … assertion by the United States that indigenous rights (and law) were extinguished by [imposed] annexation [to the US] did not … make it so in the manaʻo [customary knowledge and practices] of the people.

The imposition of US statehood obscured the fact that Kanaka Maoli cultural laws defined the practices of common law in Hawaiʻi, and instead replaced them with concepts from the feudal laws of England.

Two particular Kanaka Maoli legal concepts were helpful to the Tribunal in determining whether there was a recognition by [Kanaka Maoli law] of a right of self-determination.

First, … at a fundamental level, ea is life, [breath, spirit, and inherent sovereignty that Kānaka Maoli are born with]. The sanctity of life places upon the people an obligation to protect and maintain … pono [balance, justice, right relationship], within which [life is supported and renewed]. This obligation [to live in a pono way is a sacred responsibility, kuleana, and] is a supreme, sovereign duty [as expressed in the immortal words of Kauikeaouli: “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono” – The life of the land and all that supports life is protected by the right intentions and the right actions of the people].

The second concept … is that of Mālama or responsibility to care for and protect the land and people. … Kānaka Maoli regar[d] themselves as [a people and] a nation capable of exercising the … basic powers [of self-determination and] sovereignty [including] the right and ability to defend and protect the people and the sacred lands on which they liv[e]. … [This sacred kuleana, and] the nature and extent of [its power, is] definable only by the Kānaka Maoli [themselves, growing from their] complex lineages, religion, and [cultural laws]. … As such, the rights and powers of sovereignty and self-determination [are not extinguishable by imposed] acts of cession, annexation or conquest.