UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - Seventeenth Session
16-27 April 2018 | New York, USA
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is one of three UN bodies mandated to deal specifically with indigenous peoples' issues - and it's only existed since the year 2000. Throughout that time, our part of the world has been highly involved - with Māori and Pasifika leaders at the forefront of those using the Permanent Forum as a platform for change.
Meeting for two weeks every year since 2002, the Permanent Forum works on issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health, and human rights. Specifically, its role is to provide expert advice to the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the wider United Nations on indigenous issues, and to raise awareness and promote the integration and coordination of activities related to indigenous issues within the UN.
In addition to all this, each year's conference has a specific focus; this year's theme is "Indigenous peoples' collective rights to lands, territories and resources".
As well as attending the Permanent Forum, our delegates will meet and learn from incredible indigenous community leaders in New York and visit the National Museum of the American Indian. And obviously, anyone going all that way should see the sights too - our delegates will get a tour of the city and have some free time to explore.
KEY INFO
DEPARTS AKL - 11 April
RETURNS TO AKL - 2 May
TRAINING WEEKEND - 24-25 March
APPLICATIONS DUE - 4 March
$1500 DEPOSIT DUE - 12 March
DELEGATION FEE - $5775
Let us know if you need more flexibility with payment deadlines. Our delegates need to pay in full before departure (we're a small charity!), but we can adjust invoice dates before you leave.
Head Delegate
JULIA AMUA WHAIPOOTI
Julia (Ngāti Porou) is a passionate advocate for systemic change. She is the proudest aunty to five and imagines an Aotearoa where they, future generations and all children have the equal chance to imagine and to reach their potential. In her day-to-day mahi, she is a Senior Advisor at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and also is a spokesperson for Justspeak, a group that advocates for transformative change in criminal justice. She sees many of the issues within our criminal justice system as reflecting the social justice failures in broader society. Julia believes in the power of young people’s experiences and voices to be visionary, hopeful and impatient for change. She has been involved in the Community Law movement over the past 8 years as a volunteer, advocate, lawyer and National Māori Co-ordinator.
Delegates
LIAM GRAY
"Tēnā koutou, Ko Liam Gray toko ingoa. Nō Whakapara ahau.
Ko Ngāpuhi te iwi."
Liam is a final year medical student at the University of Otago, Wellington. He is passionate about Māori health and reducing the inequity in our population. He wants to be a leader for systemic change in how we approach health care for Māori to build stronger people and improve their relationship with the systems that are meant to provide for them. Liam is on his own journey of understanding what it means to be Māori in our modern world, and is interested in how to decolonise institutions and systems to allow sustainable reconnection and cultural fulfilment.
TRINITY THOMPSON-BROWNE
Trinity is a passionate, driven, 21 year old wahine Māori from Ngāti Kahungunu who is motivated by her loved ones and personal sense of social justice to change how Māoritanga is portrayed in media, and by doing so, reduce suicide rates among Māori. She is interested in the Forum to learn about the issues, successes and challenges facing other indigenous peoples, the influence of mass media on the hauora of indigenous youth and how this can be navigated moving forward. She has just completed her BA in Te Reo Māori and Linguistics at Victoria University and now works as a research assistant for Māmari Stephens in Victoria’s law faculty. Alongside this she also runs her own media company for rangatahi Māori, Fruit From The Vine."
JAMIE BERRY
Jamie (Te Aitanga-a-māhaki) is a Multidisciplinary Artist who explores her DNA and identity through visual, soundscape and installation. She is a devoted aunty to 15 tamariki who are her main motivation to contributing / creating / inspiring a better future for all indigenous children. Jamie’s expertise is idea generation, film production, soundscape production and an eye for design. Day time mahi Jamie works for CORE Digital creating digital content for the Education sector. To be a part of a collaborative movement and sharing past, present, future knowledge with her indigenous brothers and sisters is an opportunity of a lifetime and will be a great privilege.
MERENIA HUDSON
"Ko Merenia tōna ingoa. Ko Ngāti Awa te iwi. Ko Ngati Hokopū te hapū. No Whakatāne ia."
Brought up in Whakatāne, Merenia has recently moved home to champion a devotion to the well-being of whanau and hapū in Aotearoa. With a particular focus on challenging systemic pipelines of inequality, Merenia is also Co-Founder and Strategic Director for Manawa Ahi - a community of rangatahi around the country that invest their time and talent to see justice realised both locally and globally. After completing undergraduate studies at Victoria University of Wellington, issues of division and fragmentation within communities across Aotearoa were not only exposed but explored, firing a commitment to see deeper relational reconciliation between and within Iwi Maori, as well as with Tangata Tiriti and tauiwi alike. In observing the inarguable value of connections and relationships, Merenia sees the opportunity to attend PFII 2018 as invaluable to sustaining solidarity and a sense of connection amidst the universally shared experiences of indigeneity, and its corresponding challenges.
CHRISTINA LEEF
Christina descends from Te Rarawa, Ngāti Manawa, Ngāpuhi, Kuki Airani. Christina studied Māori Business at Victoria University and was especially interested in indigenous entrepreneurship and how local solutions could solve many of the problems humanity faces today. Today she works as a programme manager of rangatahi programmes at Māori Women's Development Inc., a charitable trust that focuses on supporting Māori women and their whānau to succeed in business through the provision of business and financial capability programmes. She is also the programme manger for Kōkiri, the first accelerator programme for Māori entrepreneurs. Christina is committed to supporting, connecting and enabling indigenous rangatahi to unleash their inner entrepreneur in an ever changing world. This kaupapa invites opportunity to connect with and serve indigenous leaders all around the world.
SAMANTHA JACKSON
"He mokopuna ahau nō ngā iwi o Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Kahu. I am an indigenous daughter, sister, Aunty, poet, activist and environmentalist. I currently spend my days studying Medicine at the University of Otago. I have completed my Master of Arts majoring in Indigenous Development which looked at the philosophical underpinnings of Indigenous Development from a Northern Māori perspective and have had the privilege of working and volunteering in many kaupapa Māori from waka hourua, mau rākau, tiakina taiao, rangatahi development, criminal justice and te reo and tikanga Māori. To me, these experiences represent the fullness of opportunity within te ao Māori and how necessarily interrelated every aspect of our world is. I am curious, passionate, willing to listen and when required, willing to disrupt. I am passionate about contributing to a world where every rangatahi Māori is able to live out the potential sewn in them by rite of their whakapapa."
DANNY POA
"Kia ora ko Danny toku ingoa. Te uri o Ngāi Tūhoe me Ngati Kahungunu. I grew up in Upper Hutt and I am what you would probably call a "late bloomer". Definitely didn't do too well in school and only really did turn up to play rugby and do kapa haka. Kapa haka for me was home and safe under the korowai of our tūpuna. Later I joined a group of Māori creatives called 2face drama. A group that use kapa haka, poetry, theatre and dance to express certain social issues that rangatahi face in their communities. I became chairman and together we have gone across the country holding conferences and productions based on performing arts to portray a message for our rangatahi. This is where I found my niche and what I loved to do. Not performing but supporting the 100+ rangatahi that have come under our wing and have the support I once received. I received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and an honours degree in Criminology. I am currently working on my expression of study to complete my masters degree. My passion is for Māori and the social issues that disproportionately affect us. What interests me about this conference is the meeting of our indigenous brothers and sisters and also the kaupapa as it pertains to indigenous rights for land. My iwi of Tūhoe feel raupatu whenua and the confiscation of our ancestral land as if it was yesterday. We are very tied to our whenua. For two years I worked in Community Law Wellington where I was a restorative justice facilitator and legal advocate for Māori. In that job we came across a number of complex shared whenua scenarios that highlighted the need for a better solution. Mauri ora."
PIKIHUIA HAENGA LITTLE
"(Ngati Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Porou) I am an artist and a film-maker. Passionate about gaining ideal scenarios for Māori people especially recognition equality and mana for women. I work for CORE Education swinging between digital Media team camera/editing ninja to being an innovator/imaginator with my incredibly talented Māori colleagues. I have the drive to contribute and support the ever evolving always existing and diverse potential in Māori people and culture as the healers, inspirers, innovative potentiators, creatives, advocates for systematic change, environmental connectors and protectors for Aotearoa with a visionary plan of 500years +. I live a life of experiences in both Te Ao Māori and Colonial New Zealand culture. This in-between-spaces is a prevalent theme always being grappled with in the film/video work I do, the collectives I partner with and the discussions commonly held. I value travelling the world meeting people and experiencing cultures, this comes down to the fact that I know my ancestors were travellers. I am in the process of looking into my DNA and mapping out my genealogy in all directions, this is a process that will inform my diversity as a person who identifies as Māori and indigenous. I am a documentarian, I am going to record the trip through utilising my skills as visual story teller using camera to ask questions and capture the resulting response. My primary focus is to document the effects the subtleties in the transformation of delegates, of issues, the types of solutions that stem after being taken to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The power of having these visual documentaries and interpretations and insights is a resource that has the potential to reach our people far and wide in this day and age of online media platforms and will contribute to the next round of leaders visionaries."
LILE VAKA
Liletina is of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngāi Tahu, and Tongan descent. Having studied International Relations and Political Science, Liletina has worked across a wide variety of organisations relevant to Māori and Pasifika success. Her recent work with the Treasury of New Zealand was recognised for challenging cost-benefit analysis and other policy analysis frameworks limited to short time scopes. Published in the United Nations Association of New Zealand’s 2017 journal, ‘Ki Roto I Te Ngahere: Reducing Inequalities For Rangatahi Māori is a National Imperative’, speaks to Liletina’s particular interest in supporting and empowering rangatahi Māori and Pasifika. She has mentored across university, highschool, and NGO spaces. At the heart of her mentoring approach sits the mentees’ wairuatanga, ensuring they feel empowered, valued, and challenged by sharing with them tools, knowledge and encouragement. In 2017, Liletina carved out a mentor programme for over 60 rangatahi Māori and Pasifika at a local High School, offering full sponsorship for driver licensing in addition to academic support and connections with community roopu. Support and encouragement, in tangible ways, has a positive psychological effect for our transitioning rangatahi. Ensuring our young people are given the space and support to flourish is key to Liletina’s work. Attending this year’s conference will provide Liletina with lifetime connections and valuable insights. Being better equipped to lead, support, empower, and organise will ensure the rangatahi Liletina works with will be better placed to become critical thinking, boundary pushing leaders.