2017 International Civil Society Week
Indigenous peoples make up the majority in most Pacific Islands. Yet, colonial and imperialist exploitation has led to them being national minorities in their own lands.
By the turn of the century, in spite of various reforms and international mechanisms that have been introduced to protect indigenous rights, environmental plunder and colonial inequalities still persisted. Environmental, social, and economic challenges brought about by capitalistic greed have inhibited the indigenous peoples’ access to basic human rights such as quality education, health services, housing, and sustainable livelihood. In response to the growing oppression, several independence and indigenous rights movements have risen in the region and until now, indigenous peoples and nations of the Pacific continue their struggle for independent nationhood.
IPMSDL, in collaboration with Dewan Adat Papua and Merdeka (West Papua Support Committee), brings you a plenary session on Self-Determination and Liberation in the Pacific, happening on December 6, 2017 as part of the 2017 International Civil Society Week in Suva, Fiji co-hosted by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Piango.