UNPO’s General Assembly was held in Washington DC coinciding with the organization’s initiative to establish a permanent presence in the USA, which is expected to significantly strengthen its diplomatic influence at the United Nations. The ANC has been a member of UNPO since 2019, as part of its international strategy for disseminating the Catalan pro-independence message and denouncing the Spanish state’s rights abuses against the people of Catalonia. Paluzie’s appointment as vice-president of UNPO will allow Assemblea to have access to the UN’s headquarters.

Congratulations ⁦@epaluzie⁩ for becoming Vice-President of UNPO. We look forward to you bringing ⁦@assemblea⁩ experience of non-violent self-determination activism to an international level! pic.twitter.com/NDkTdxxi1n

— Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (@UNPOintl) March 28, 2022

These elections have meant a major renewal of the UNPO’s collegiate presidency. It has grown from 10 men and one woman to 6 women and 5 men. For the first time in the history of UNPO the president is a woman, and also for the first time she is African: Edna Adan Ismail, from Somaliland . The two vice presidents are also women, including Elisenda Paluzie. The collegiate presidency incorporates representations of peoples and nations from all continents (America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania).

UNPO is an international organization aimed at defending the right to self-determination of its members. Those members are indigenous peoples, minorities, unrecognized States and occupied territories that have joined together to promote their right to self-determination, while also defending their political, social and cultural rights and preserving their environments. UNPO was created in the late 1980s with representatives from Estonia, the Uyghur people and Tibet, among others, with the goal of replicating the Tibetan people’s message of nonviolence and interethnic tolerance in the face of oppression. Currently, it has 44 active members, from the Crimean Tatars to the Uyghurs, and from Taiwan to Catalonia.

The post Catalonia takes the vice-presidency of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization appeared first on VilaWeb.