Map showing states containing one or
more members of the UNPO
The
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
(UNPO), initiated in 1990 in Tartu
, Estonia,
and formed in February 11, 1991, in the Hague
, is a democratic, international
organization. Its members are
indigenous peoples,
occupied nations,
minorities and
independent states or territories which lack
representation internationally. The organization educates groups in
what channels to use to make their voices heard, and helps defuse
tensions so that frustrated groups do not turn to violence to gain
attention for their demands.
Some former members, like Armenia
, East Timor
, Estonia
, Latvia
and Georgia
, have gained
full independence and joined the United
Nations.
UNPO aims to protect the members' human and cultural
rights, preserve their environments, and to find
non-violent solutions to conflicts which affect them. UNPO provides
a forum for member aspirations and assists its members to
participate at an international level.
UNPO members are generally not represented diplomatically (or only
with a minor status, such as observer) in major international
institutions, such as the United Nations. As a result, their
ability to have their concerns addressed by the global bodies
mandated to protect human rights and address conflict is
limited.
UNPO is dedicated to the five principles enshrined in its
Covenant:
All members are required to sign and abide by the UNPO Covenant.
They must affirm that they support the principle of nonviolencein
their people’s struggle for a peaceful solution and that they apply
the democratic methodology as their guiding principle. Despite the
"UN" in its acronym, UNPO is an
NGO and not an
agency of the United Nations.
Members
The following are the 54 members listed on the UNPO
Nations
& People page, the organizations that currently represent
them, and the dates on which they joined the UNPO (original members
listed with blue background):
Former members
The following former members of the UNPO have since gained
United Nations (UN) recognition:
- Four
former republics of the Soviet Union
:
- Two Baltic republics:
- – (founding member);withdrew on 17 September 1991;independence
restored in 1991
- – (founding member);withdrew on 17 September 1991;independence
restored in 1991
- Two Transcaucasian republics:
- – (founding member); withdrew on 2 March 1992; independence
restored in 1991
- – (founding member); withdrew on 31 July 1992; independence
restored in 1991
- Others:
- –
Joined 17 January 1993; withdrew 27 September 2002; former Portuguese
colony annexed by Indonesia
in 1975 and independent since 2002
- – (founding member); withdrew on 15 December 1994; formerly
part of the US–administered Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands and independent since 1994
- Non–UN Members:
- Other former members of the UNPO.
Aceh – Joined 6 August 1991; membership
discontinued 1 March 2008; reached autonomy agreement with Indonesia in 2005
Albanians in
Macedonia – Joined 16 April 1994; membership discontinued 1 Mar
2008; reached agreement on wider
rights with Macedonia
in 2001
Bashkortostan – Joined 3 February 1996;
withdrew 30 Jun 1998- Bougainville
– Joined 6 August 1991; membership discontinued 1
March 2008; reached autonomy agreement with Papua New
Guinea
in 2000
- Buffalo River Dene Nation – Joined 19
December 2004; membership suspended 9 October 2009
Chuvash
– Joined 17 January 1993; membership discontinued 1
March 2008
Gagauzia
– Joined 16 April 1994; membership discontinued 1
Dec 2007; reached autonomy agreement with Moldova
in 1994
Ingushetia
– Joined 30 July 1994; membership discontinued 1
Mar 2008
Komi
– Joined 17
January 1993; membership suspended 9 October 2009
Kumyk – Joined 17
April 1997; membership discontinued 1 Mar 2008
Khalistan –
Joined 24 January 1993; discontinued 4 Aug 1993, suspension made
permanent 22 Jan 1995
Lakotah
Nation – Joined 30 July 1994; membership discontinued 1 Dec
2007, followed by the declaration of the Republic of Lakotah
Maohi
– Joined 30
July 1994; membership discontinued 1 Dec 2007
Mari –
Joined 6 August 1991; membership suspended 9 October 2009- Nahua Del Alto Balsas – Joined 19 December 2004; membership
suspended 20 Sep 2008
- Nuxalk – Joined 23 September 1998;
membership discontinued 1 Mar 2008
- Rusyn – Joined 23 September 1998;
membership discontinued 1 Dec 2007
- Sakha – Joined 3 August 1993; withdrew 30
Jun 1998
- Talysh –
Joined 26 June 2005; membership discontinued 1 Mar 2008
- Tatarstan (founding member);
membership discontinued 1 March 2008
West Papua
(founding member); membership suspended 20
September 2008
General Secretaries
Criticism
Valery Tishkov, the Director of the Institute
of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Russian
Academy of Sciences
and former Russian Minister for nationalities,
criticized the UNPO by stating:
The UNPO's activities in The Hague took a different
track when the flags of separatist regimes and organizations that
emerged after the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia were hoisted
above its headquarters. In the context of new geopolitical
rivalries and western euphoria about rebuilding the post-communist
world, "unrepresentedness" came to be seen as a breach of order
rather than an improvement, as a process of exiting the system
rather than finding one's voice within it.
See also
References
External links
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