Inuit leaders meeting in Kuujjuaq have agreed to develop an "Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic."
In advance of the declaration the leaders also approved the attached statement.
On behalf of ICC and Circumpolar leaders, we are pleased with our discussions over the past two days at the Inuit Leaders Summit on Arctic Sovereignty in Kuujjuaq. The meeting has been a most useful information exchange on the topic of sovereignty in the Arctic among Inuit leaders and invited experts. We have generated a practical way for going forward, said Patricia Cochran, Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council.
"Sovereignty is a complex issue. It has a variety of overlapping elements, anchored in international law. But fundamentally it begins with the history and reality of Inuit use and occupation of Arctic lands and waters; that use and occupation is at the heart of any informed discussion of sovereignty in the Arctic. Arctic nation states must respect the rights and roles of Inuit in all international discussions and commitments dealing with the Arctic.
Climate change has moved Arctic sovereignty to the front of the international agenda. We have all seen the escalating speculation about how drastic reduction of ice coverage will open the Arctic waterways to increased shipping traffic and expedited oil and gas development."
Leaders agreed that the pursuit of resources through an agenda of Arctic sovereignty must involve coordinated strategies to ensure the Arctic has viable and healthy communities, sound civil administration, and responsible environmental management, not just ports, training facilities, and military exercises.
One clear message from the convening of our meeting is that for all sorts of reasons - law, politics, and the very practical reason that the world stands to learn the most about the Arctic from the people who know the Arctic best - Inuit have an essential role in international discussions about arctic waters, marine transportation plans, environmental initiatives and mechanisms, and the future of international Arctic institutions and relations generally, Cochran said.
The Inuit leaders gathered in Kuujjuaq committed to complete a declaration by March 31, 2009. This timetable will allow the declaration to inform the next meeting of the Arctic Council Ministers scheduled for April, 2009 in Tromsø, Norway.
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Towards an Inuit Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty
Statement issued
by Inuit Leaders at the
Inuit Leaders Summit on Arctic Sovereignty
Nov. 6-7, 2008
At the invitation of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada, we Inuit leaders from Greenland, Alaska, and Canada gathered in Kuujjuaq on Nov. 6-7 to discuss the issue of Arctic sovereignty.
We Inuit leaders, representing a broad constituency, came to Kuujjuaq with the awareness that an increasing focus on the Arctic is fostering unparalleled interest in, and claims over, our lands and seas from various sectors including governments and industry.
We took note of various declarations and statements made by governments and industry regarding overlapping claims and assertions of Arctic sovereignty without full regard to Inuit concerns and rights. We further asserted that any claim of sovereignty that nation states may make is derived through the use and occupancy by Inuit of lands and seas in the Arctic.
We reviewed key aspects of international instruments recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and shared among themselves elements of various processes such as Inuit land claims agreements and self-government arrangements across the Arctic. We updated each other on the implementation status of these processes and informed each other of recent autonomy discussions between Inuit and Arctic governments, such as the Greenland Denmark Accord on Self Rule, which Greenlanders will vote on in a referendum on Nov. 25, 2008. We, the leaders present in Kuujjuaq, congratulated Greenland on its accord and pledged to fully support the choice Greenlanders will make.
Various aspects of what sovereignty means for Inuit were discussed. There was agreement among us that the foundation of Inuit sovereignty begins at home, and that only through Inuit well-being and the development of healthy and sustainable communities can meaningful sovereignty be achieved. To achieve these goals, we called upon Arctic governments to be active partners in creating such a foundation.
We, the Inuit leaders gathered in Kuujjuaq, reminded Arctic governments that they are obligated under various legal instruments both national and international to include Inuit in meaningful and direct ways in any and all discussions of sovereignty over the lands and seas we have lived on for thousands of years.
We expressed our concerns over potential environmental impacts on our seas as traffic through Arctic waters is sure to increase.
We recognized the value of the work of the Arctic Council and asked ICC, through its permanent participant status on the Council, to work especially hard to make Inuit concerns known at the April 2009 meeting of Arctic foreign ministers to be held in Tromsø, Norway.
We further noted the meaningful and direct role that indigenous peoples have at the Arctic Council, while at the same time expressing concern that the Council leaves many issues considered sensitive by member states off the table, including security, sovereignty, national legislation relating to marine mammal protection, and commercial fishing.
Concern was expressed among us leaders gathered in Kuujjuaq that governments were entering into Arctic sovereignty discussions without the meaningful involvement of Inuit, such as the May, 2008 meeting of five Arctic ministers in Ilulissat, Greenland. The Kuujjuaq summit noted that while the Ilulissat Declaration asserts that it is the coastal nation states that have sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Arctic Ocean, it completely ignores the rights Inuit have gained through international law, land claims and self-government processes.
Further, while the ministers strongly supported the use of international mechanisms and international law to resolve sovereignty disputes, it makes no reference to those international instruments that promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples.
We, as Inuit leaders, strongly committed ourselves to working both nationally and internationally reminding various actors about the rights of Inuit in matters of the Arctic and called upon the organizers of the December 2009 meeting in Copenhagen of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to directly and fully involve Inuit in their deliberations and give support to the associated Arctic Day. We called upon the parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to take into account the rights and interests of Inuit in any matter concerning the Arctic. We called upon the G-8 countries to centrally involve Inuit in their 2010 conference to be hosted by the Government of Canada.
We further committed ourselves to assert our rights and work collectively at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and through UN treaty bodies as well as, when necessary, through the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples.
We called upon Arctic governments to include Inuit as equal partners in any future talks regarding Arctic sovereignty. We insisted that in these talks, Inuit be included in a manner that equals or surpasses the participatory role Inuit play at the Arctic Council through ICCs permanent participant status.
We agreed to continue the important Arctic sovereignty dialogue started here in Kuujjuaq at this first ever Inuit Leaders Summit on Arctic Sovereignty and committed to developing a formal declaration on Arctic sovereignty within six months of the conclusion of this Inuit Leaders Summit. We asked the Inuit Circumpolar Council to coordinate this activity.
While the Inuit leadership from Russia were unable to be present with us in Kuujjuaq, we were pleased to receive a written intervention from ICC Chukotka that stated that the issue of sovereignty and self-determination is a very important issue for us, and while our path towards self-government has not matched the pace of some of your indigenous institutions in Greenland, Canada, and Alaska, we are pursuing our own path of self-determination, according to international norms and laws. We remained committed to strongly supporting the Inuit of Chukotka through ICC.
We pledged to continue to celebrate and strongly promote the unity of Inuit across the Arctic from Russia to Alaska to Canada to Greenland. We expressed our strong support for the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and wished to take special notice of the 7th of November as International Inuit Day, which was established at the last ICC General Assembly held in Barrow, Alaska in 2006. We also expressed our appreciation to ICC Greenland for hosting the next ICC General Assembly to be held in 2010. Finally, we thanked the people of Kuujjuaq and all of Nunavik for allowing us to have this leaders summit in their region.
Kuujjuaq
Nov. 7 2008
Arctic Sovereignty Begins with Inuit
Arctic Sovereignty Begins with Inuit: Circumpolar Inuit Commit to Development of Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic
Published: 07.11.2008 20:53
