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Excerpted from:

KANAKA MAOLI (HAWAIIAN PEOPLE) SUBJECTED TO GENOCIDE AT THE HANDS OF U. S. AND STATE

by

Ka Ho'okolokolonui Kanaka Maoli Judges

Having heard extensive and compelling testimony on the islands ofO'ahu, Matai, Moloka'i, Kaua'i and Hawai'i from August 13-19,1993, receiving voluminous documentary evidence in support andcorroboration of the testimony, and having engaged in a number ofsite inspections during the same period, the Ka Ho'okolokolonuiKanaka Maoli (People's International Tribunal, Hawai'i 1993) hasarrived at certain general recognitions and findings from whichit is prepared to advance preliminary recommendations. It shouldbe noted that a full report detailing and amplifying theseresults will be issued by the Tribunal within a period of sixmonths.

The Tribunal finds that:

  1. Between the years 179O and 1826, the United States violated nakanawai (Kanaka Maoli law) through a series of actions impugningthe sovereignty of the Lahui Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian people andnation). These actions also violated elements of customaryinternational law, as well as the fundamental commitment of theUnited States, expressed in its own Declaration of Independence,to respect the inalienable rights of all people to life, libertyand the pursuit of happiness.

  2. During the period of 1826 and 1893, the United Statesaccelerated its interventions in the internal affairs of LahuiKanaka Maoli, abridging and impairing its sovereign functioningand right to self-determination. In addition to violations of naKanawai and customary law, these actions violated the terms of atleast three ratified and binding treaties...

  3. In 1893, the U.S. openly supported, both diplomatically andthrough deployment of military force, a coup d'etat conducted byalien immigrants against the legitimate govermnent of LahuiKanaka Maoli. Thereafter, for a period of five years, the U.S.openly supported the usurping regime by use of armed forceagainst the indigenous population of Hawaii. In 1898, the U S.annexed Ka Pae'aina o Hawai'i (the Hawaiian archipelago), neitherobtaining the consent of, nor even consulting the Kanaka Maoli. Self-evidently, these actions violated na kanawai in the mostmassive and fundamental ways....

  4. Following annexation, the United States forcibly subordinated,degraded and systematically dispossessed the Kanaka Maoli. In1959, utilizing the mechanism of an invalid plebiscite whichdenied indigenous Hawaiians the right to express their will withregard to their political status or the disposition of theirterritory, the U. S incorporated Hawai'i into the Union as astate. ... this action contravened Article 73 of the UnitedNations Charter ... Under provision of Article 20 of the Charterof the Organization of American States. ...

  5. Lahui Kanaka Maoli Sovereignty has not been extingushed by theillegal actions of the United States. The overthrow of 1893 andpurported annexation ... merely changed the nature of theoperative state, but did not remove the inherent right of thepeople to sovereignty.

  6. The effective ability of indigenous Hawaiians to assert theirlegitimate right to self-determination has been denied. TheKanaka Maoli are morally and legally entitled to reassert thisright under provision of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 1514.

  7. The federal government and government of the state of Hawai'i,have imposed and maintained a "blood quantum" system ofidentification upon the Kanaka Maoli which is alien to theircultural traditions, whlch is socially and politically divisive,and which has worked to their economic disadvantage. Bloodquantum is ethnocidal, and is contrary to the virtual entirety ofthe International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofRacial Discrimination.

  8. The Kanaka Maoli have been subjected to ongoing processes ofgenocide, both physical and cultural, at the hands of the U.S.government and the government of the State of Hawaii, acting inconcert with a range of commercial interests, since at least asearly as 1850. The conduct of the ... governments violates naKanawai, as well as the 1948 Convention for Prevention andPunishment of the Crime of Genocide ...

  9. The Kanaka Maoli have exhausted all existing peaceful avenuesfor rectifying the multiplicity of wrongs done to them.Consequently, they are entitled, on an urgent basis, to explorepotentially more productive approaches, such as mediatednegotiations with the U.S. Department of State.

Recommendations:

  1. The Tribunal recommends that the U.S. and the world recognizethe sovereignty - and the right to self-determination - of LahuiKanaka Maoli under provision of the International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights and ... other elements ofinternational law.

  2. The U.S. and the world should acknowledge the right of LahuiKanaka Maoli to decolonization under the provisions of UNResolution 1514.

  3. Kanaka Maoli lands ... should be returned to the control ofLahui Kanaka Maoli without delay ...

  4. Blood quantum standards of identification should beimmediately suspended. Lahui Kanaka Maoli itself shoulddetermine the composition of its citizenry, free from externalinterference. ...

  5. The U.S. in negotiations and interactions with the LahuiKanaka Maoli, should observe the provisions of the UN Declarationof the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the minimum standards tobe followed. ...


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