INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE (ICC) GAINS U.N. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION STATUS
On this date, the United Nations granted Category II Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status to the ICC, an international Inuit organization formed in 1977 with members from Canada, Greenland and Alaska. Hans-Pavia Rosing, President of the ICC, stated that the UN’s acceptance of the ICC’s NGO application recognizes the important role of the Inuit in promoting “a greater awareness of and sensitivity to the Arctic region, its environment and its inhabitants.” The ICC General Assembly (GA) meets every 3 years and is composed of 54 delegates: 18 each from Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Central concerns of the ICC are survival and development of Inuit language and culture, development by nations of an arctic policy which properly balances resource exploitation with protection of the fragile arctic environment, the wildlife and the culture and traditions of Inuit, and promotion on the international level of aboriginal rights as cultural and human rights.
Source: “ICC Granted UN Status Inuit Assume New Role in World Community,” Eben Hopson Memorial Archives. Retrieved 12/14/2019, http://ebenhopson.com/icc-granted-un-status-arctic-policy-review/ Graphic: spiff-enwiki, 6/8/2009. Public Domain.
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