A group of Lahaina residents are in New York City this week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The UN event will feature a screening of "Lahaina Rising," an award-winning documentary directed and produced by Lahaina residents. The film’s team is joining members of the Nation of Hawaiʻi delegation at the event.
They’re seeking to raise awareness of the 2023 wildfires not as a natural disaster, but as a failure of human rights and the government.
Lahaina community leader Paele Kiakona spoke before the UN earlier this week. He highlighted what he called a disregard for indigenous practices that led to recent fire and flood disasters.
“Lahaina was reopened only two months after our fire, despite 18,000 people signing a petition to dispute the decision. And this points to a broader pattern that has been going on for generations globally,” he said. “To some, this may look like oversight, but to us, is just part of the same system that has always forced more than half of our Native Hawaiian population to live far from our homeland.”
As Lahaina rebuilds, the group hopes to call attention to its ongoing recovery at the international forum, and highlight the need for Native Hawaiian decision-making. The event is one of the world’s foremost gatherings of international indigenous leaders.
“We believe the prolonged displacement of our people demands international scrutiny on the highest level,” Kiakona continued. “We respectfully request that the United Nations investigate the human rights and health impacts of the Lahaina fires and their aftermath to ensure rebuilding is indigenously led and compliant with the free and prior and informed consent, and to recognize the ongoing displacement of the Native Hawaiians as a violation of international human rights.”
Other Hawai’i delegation speakers include fire survivor and Lahaina Rising producer De Andre Makakoa, acclaimed Native Hawaiian actor and storyteller Moses Goods, and John Kealoha Garcia, 2nd Vice President of the Nation State of Hawaiʻi.
The group has also had a private meeting with Dr. Albert K. Barume, who serves as Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
After the special screening of Lahaina Rising on April 24, the team will lead discussion about Lahaina’s locally-led recovery.
