"What happens at the UN when indigenous peoples even attempt to speak to the issue of demilitarization? We are forced to leave the "process" with the one thing we cannot even consider bargaining away: our conscience." -- Noho Hewa
Statement by Kalamaoka’aina Niheu
Ohana Koa-NFIPCensored News
Aloha kakou,
It is with great sadness and outrage to find at the 11th hour that Paragraph 21 regarding Demilitarization has been removed from the Outcome Document.
For this reason, Ohana Koa –Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific can no longer consent to our participation in the High Level Plenary Meeting (HLPM) also known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP).
At every stage in the process on the road to the HLPM, demilitarization has been a critical demand for the different regions throughout the world. Its removal at this stage indicates a gross disregard for one of the key issues facing our community and an indication of the lack of strength of this document.
Military violence, occupation, transport, storage, practice, and construction have been the cornerstone for the destruction of all Indigenous Peoples. For what reason have we been forced to watch as our culture, lands, and peoples are destroyed and abused for economic gain? Because political power grows out of the barrel of their guns.