Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

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Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)
Flag
Headquarters The Hague, Netherlands
Membership 571 population groups
Leaders
 -  General Secretary Marino Busdachin
(since 2003)
Establishment February 11, 1991
Population
 -   estimate c.200 million 
Website
http://www.unpo.org/
1 Last updated in September 2008.
Map showing states containing one or more members of the UNPO

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), formed in 1991, 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, Estonia, Latvia and Georgia, have gained full independence and joined the United Nations.[1][2]

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 nonviolence in 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.

Contents

[edit] Members

The following are the 57 members as listed on the UNPO Nations & People page and dated in which they joined the UNPO [3]:

[edit] Africa

[edit] Asia

[edit] Americas

[edit] Europe

[edit] Oceania & Australasia

1: Active Independence Movements

[edit] 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:
      •  Estonia – (founding member);withdrew on 17 September 1991;independence restored in 1991
      •  Latvia – (founding member);withdrew on 17 September 1991;independence restored in 1991
    • Two Transcaucasian republics:
      •  Armenia – (founding member); withdrew on 2 March 1992; independence restored in 1991
      •  Georgia – (founding member); withdrew on 31 July 1992; independence restored in 1991
  • Others:
  • Non–UN Members:
    • Other former members of the UNPO. [4]
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • Maohi – Joined 30 July 1994; membership discontinued 1 Dec 2007
      • 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

[edit] General Secretaries

[edit] 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.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barbara Crossette, Those Knocking, Unheeded, at U.N.'s Doors Find Champion, New York Times, December 18, 1994.
  2. ^ a b Tishkov, Valerie, An Anthropology of NGOs, Eurozine, July 2008
  3. ^ http://www.worldstatesmen.org/International_Organizations2.html#UNPO
  4. ^ http://www.unpo.org/map.html
  5. ^ UNPO Presidency & Secretariat, UNPO web site.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrepresented_Nations_and_Peoples_Organization"
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