Haumāna (students) from (HSHK) at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa attending an international forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York City through May 6, are calling on global leaders to take a deeper look into the highly controversial Red Hill fuel leaks that tainted Honolulu’s groundwater aquifer.

���������첹���� Kameʻeleihiwa, a professor at HSHK (KCHS), escorted five �󲹳ܳ���Բ� to the Big Apple for the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) beginning in late April. The two-week forum is the central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world’s Indigenous peoples.

“I bring NH (Native Hawaiian) KCHS students to the UNPFII because if we Hawaiians really want our country back, as do I, then we need to learn the international arena of governments,” Kameʻeleihiwa explained.

MA student Makanalani Malia Gomes and her classmates participated in the Indigenous Youth caucus at UNPFII. Gomes turned heads at UNPFII when she spoke out about the leaking of 14,000 gallons of fuel at a Red Hill facility on her home island and compromised access to clean drinking water.

“At the time when delivering the intervention, I was fully present and wanted to simply be a vessel for these lifeways and waterways,” Gomes explained.

“Our intention was always to honor water as an autonomous being and ancestor. We (those from the team who helped to draft the statement) worked hard the days leading up to the day of the scheduled topic…we knew we wanted to bring up the issue of water, specifically at Kapukakī or Red Hill, to this global platform to set a precedent for other issues related to water like Mauna Kea, but also water issues around the world because we know so many of our Indigenous family are facing similar issues.”

Gomes joined KCHS �󲹳ܳ���Բ� Alyssa Purcell, Lahela Mattos, Joseph Awong and Kalani Simeona and Kealiʻi Gora, an administrator at HSHK for Pūkoʻa and Native Hawaiian Councils, who has attended events at the U.N. since 1993 and trains students to write interventions in the UNPFII style.

The UNPFII was established in 2000 to address Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.

Kameʻeleihiwa has brought �󲹳ܳ���Բ� to UNPFII for the last two decades, and the majority of those students have become leaders in the Native Hawaiian community, she said.

“Attending the face-to-face (forum) for two weeks is like a crash course in these matters, and students make lifelong friends,” said Kameʻeleihiwa. “They want to change the world and serve the Lāhui.”

This year, UH Mānoa �󲹳ܳ���Բ� crossed paths with Indigenous people from every continent on the planet except for Antarctica. Among a number of issues raised by attendees was the preservation of native languages around the world.

On May 6, the forum’s final day, Kameʻeleihiwa and her students will conduct a virtual presentation showcasing a 9,000-page handwritten genealogy recovery project based on records found at the �鶹��ý State Archives. The online event will be held at 11:30 a.m. EDT (5:30 a.m. HST). () or Facebook Live: @hshkuhm.

This work is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of (PDF), (PDF) and (PDF), three of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

University of �鶹��ý at Hilo senior Josefina Pereira, who hails from  (formerly East Timor), was selected to represent her homeland as a Youth Delegate at the  held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in August.

The goal of the summit was to educate youth delegates, ambassadors, and observers about human rights, specifically United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inspire us to become advocates for peace and tolerance.

“During the session, various distinguished guests (key note speakers), fellow youth delegates, youth ambassadors, observers from over 45 countries around the world were invited to share their thoughts and feelings regarding human rights issues in their home countries,” said Pereira, an administration of justice major. “I was also given the opportunity to share my very humble experiences and thoughts on children’s fundamental rights in Timor Leste on behalf of my country.”

“This was a great opportunity for Josefina, for Timor-Leste and for UH Hilo,” says , director of UH Hilo International Student Services and Intercultural Education program.

“I was deeply inspired by each of the distinguished guests speakers and the youth delegates,” says Pereira.

For more read the full article at first appeared on University of Hawaiʻi System News.]]> 64543 /news/2017/01/27/activist-changrok-soh-speaks-on-human-rights-issues-in-asia/ Fri, 27 Jan 2017 18:28:15 +0000 http://www.hawaii.edu/news/?p=55520 Specializing in human rights, security and international relations, Soh is working toward establishing a system that promotes and protects human rights in Asia.

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Prominent activist and Korean scholar Changrok Soh will speak on human rights issues in Asia during his lecture, “The UN and the Regional Human Rights Mechanism in Asia,” on January 30, noon at the Conference Room of the at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa.

Soh is at the Graduate School of International Studies at . He specializes in human rights, human security and international relations and is working toward the establishment of a system that promotes and protects human rights in Asia.

The lecture will be moderated by Professor Tae-Ung Baik. The program is jointly sponsored by the Pacific-Asian Legal Studies Program at the UH Law School and the Center for Korean Studies.

“It’s exciting to have Soh here to explore the future of Asian regional cooperation, because Asia is the only region of the world that does not have any regional human rights court or commission,” said Baik.

Soh is a member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and is currently president of . Baik is a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

The program is jointly sponsored by the at the UH law school and the Center for Korean Studies.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A light lunch will be provided. Call (808) 956-7041 regarding access for those with disabilities.

—By Beverly Creamer

The post Activist Changrok Soh speaks on human rights issues in Asia first appeared on University of Hawaiʻi System News.]]>

An associate professor at the at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa has been appointed to a mandate-holder position aimed at combating politically-motivated disappearances on a global scale.

Associate Professor Tae-Ung Baik will join four other members of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances at his first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland in mid-September. He was appointed to a three-year term beginning July 3.

Each of the members is selected to represent one of the five regions of the world. Baik will represent Asia-Pacific.

Driven by personal experience

Baik’s personal history as a political prisoner under a repressive former regime in his home country of South Korea makes his appointment particularly compelling. In a powerful letter of recommendation, William S. Richardson School of Law Dean Avi Soifer wrote,” “Tae-Ung Baik has had to bear directly and at length what few of us would be able to bear at all. Nonetheless, he has emerged as a strikingly careful, wise and effective human rights advocate.”

Joachim Rucker, president of the Human Rights Council under which the Working Group operates, welcomed Baik’s strong victim-centered approach that draws on both his academic expertise and his own experience.

Formed 35 years ago, the group’s main task is to help families determine the fate or whereabouts of family members who have disappeared. It plays a key role as a liaison between families, agencies assisting them and the governments involved by submitting evidence and asking for investigations. Only when the fate of a disappeared person is known is a case closed.

In formal terms, as a “mandate-holder” of the Human Rights Council, Baik will work as an independent expert to report and advise the council on human rights issues.

—By Beverly Creamer