Australia's High Court Mabo ruling recognising indigenous land ownership
has been cited at a People's Tribunal examining the annexation of Hawaii
by the United States.
The People's International Tribunal, in Honolulu, which is made up of
nine foreign jurists, on August 12 began hearing charges against the US,
including aiding and abetting a coup last century which ousted Hawaii's
traditional monarchy.
The tribunal has been asked to rule on the legality of annexation and
president Eisenhower's August 21, 1959 declaration of Hawaii as a US
state.
Organisers said Monday that existing legal institutions were being
by-passed by the tribunal, but oral evidence collected at its public
hearings could later be used in court actions.
A law professor from New York University, Vietnamese-American Mal Van
Lam, has told the tribunal that Australia's High Court had become a
"guiding light" on indigenous rights.
She said outside the hearing yesterday that the Mabo decision in
Australia - which recognised the land rights of a group of islanders in
Australia's far north - had international implications.
She said by ruling against notions that Australia's indigenous
Aborigines had no right to traditional lands, the old legal order had
been turned on its head.
Professor Lam said it shows that indigenous people around the world can
work to overturn long standing laws that work against them.
..ends.