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A Letter from the Secretary-General This Holiday Season, Choose Solidarity

December 17, 2025
,

Dear friends,

As the year comes to an end, many of us pause to reflect, review the past year, and to think about what kind of world we want to help shape in the year ahead.

Working every day with Unrepresented Nations and Peoples, I am constantly reminded of something simple but powerful: solidarity is not an abstract idea. It is a practice. It is what allows communities to stand when their voices are ignored, their lands threatened, or their identities put at risk.

This past year, UNPO has continued to stand alongside more than 40 communities representing over 300 million people worldwide. Together, we have supported human rights defenders at risk, brought unrepresented voices to international forums, strengthened advocacy on self-determination, environmental justice, and cultural survival, and expanded spaces for cooperation and learning through initiatives such as the UNPO Academy.

We have done this in a world that has not made our work easier. Civic space is shrinking. Conflicts are multiplying. Funding for solidarity-based organisations like ours is under increasing pressure. And yet, what I see across our membership is not resignation, but resilience, and a deep belief that collective action still matters.

That is why, this holiday season, I am reaching out to you.

Not to ask for a grand gesture, but for a simple one.

One euro. One act of solidarity.
When multiplied, it becomes something far greater: protection, visibility, training, advocacy, and hope for communities who are too often left out of global decisions.

If each of us gives what we can, even just 1€, we help ensure that UNPO can continue to exist as what it has always been: a platform built by Peoples, for Peoples, grounded in peaceful action and shared responsibility.

This season, as we reflect on what truly connects us, I invite you to choose solidarity, and to be part of a collective effort that believes every people has a future worth building.

With gratitude and solidarity,

Mercè Monje Cano
 Secretary-General
 Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)

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