Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)
Flag
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Headquarters	The Hague, Netherlands
Membership	691 population groups
Leaders
• Secretary General	Marino Busdachin (since 2003)
Establishment	February 11 1991
Population
• Estimate	c.200 million
Website http://www.unpo.org/
Last updated in February 2007.

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is a democratic, international organization. Its members are indigenous peoples, occupied nations, minorities and independent states or territories which lack representation internationally.

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 participate in the international community and 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;

• the equal right to self-determination;
• adherence to the internationally accepted human rights standards as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments;
• adherence to the principles of democratic pluralism and rejection of totalitarianism and religious intolerance;
• promotion of non-violence and the rejection of terrorism as an instrument of policy; and
• protection of the natural environment.

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.

Note: In spite of the "UN" in its acronym, UNPO is not related to the United Nations.

Members

in the Americas Buffalo River Dene Nation Lakota (Dakota or Sioux Indians) Mapuche Nahuas del Alto Balsas Nuxálk Nation Tsimshian in Africa Cabinda Batwa (Pygmies) Maasai Ogoni see also Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People Oromo Rehoboroth Basters Somaliland Southern Cameroons (former Ambazonia) Vhavenda (in South Africa) Zanzibar (constituent part of federal Tanzania)

in Asia Aceh (on Sumatra); see also Free Aceh Movement Ahwazi; see also Politics of Khuzestan Assyrians; see also Assyrian independence Buryatia; see also Buryat Chin (in Myanmar) Chittagong Hill Tracts Cordillera East Turkestan Hmong ChaoFa Inner Mongolia Iranian Azerbaijan Iranian Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Turkmen Karenni State (Kayah State) (in Myanmar) Khalistan Khmer Krom Montagnards Mon Nagalim Shan (in Myanmar) Sindh South Moluccas Taiwan (used to be represented by the DPP, withdrew in 2006, according to DPP Department of International Affairs - currently represented by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy) Tibet; see also Government of Tibet in Exile and Tibetan people Tuva (Turkic people in Asian Russia) West Balochistan (in Iran)

in Europe Abkhazia Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia Bashkortostan Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Circassia; see also Circassians Chuvashia Crimean Tatars Gagauzia Greeks in Albania Hungarians in Romania Ingushetia Ingria Komi Kosovo Kumyk Mari; see also Mari El, Rusyns Sandžak Scania (Skåneland) Talysh Tatarstan Udmurtia

in Oceania & Australasia Aborigines of Australia Bougainville Ka Lahui Hawai'i Maohi West Papua (represented by the OPM)

Former members

The following former members of the UNPO have since gained United Nations (UN) recognition:

• three former independent republics occupied by the Soviet Union:

1. three Baltic republics which considered themselves never legally having acceeded as Stalin annexed them by force:
   1. Estonia
   2. Latvia
   3. Lithuania
2. two Transcaucasian republics:
   1. Armenia
   2. Georgia

• other:

1. East Timor, former Portuguese colony, annexed by Indonesia
2. Palau (or Belau), formerly part of the US-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Secretaries-General

Michael van Walt van Praag	1991-1997
Tsering Jampa	1997-1998
Helen S. Corbett	1998-1999
Erkin Alptekin	1999-2003
Marino Busdachin	2003 to date

See also

• Micronations
• United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
• Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples
• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• U.S. Government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in U.S. Territories

External links

• UNPO Website
• UNPO Covenant
• UNPO Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples
• UNPO Tartu Coordination Office (Eastern Europe and Northern Asia)
• Fourth World: Nations Without a State, Nadesan Satyendra
• List of relevant links