On 19 April UNPO participated in a one-hour radio station show at a radio channel in The Hague, the Netherlands, to discuss topics relevant to UNPO, inform about the organisation and its Members and to promote the upcoming Earth Day celebration.

The radio channel Den Haag FM invited UNPO to take part in its show 'Zware Kost', a daily broadcast between 6 - 7 pm, which invites topical guests and personalities, such as politicians and artists, to debate current topics and inform about events taking place in The Hague. Mr. Gerard van den Ijssel, the radio talk show host, had been present at the Opening Ceremony of UNPO back in 1991 in its Javastraat offices, and was now interested to know about developments at UNPO since then and about ongoing activities.

The UNPO representatives took part in the one-hour show and spoke about the work of UNPO for minorities, indigenous peoples and unrecognised nations, how the organisation has grown since its establishment at the Peace Palace sixteen years ago, its successes and challenges, the legacy of environmental- and peace activist Ken-Saro Wiva [the Ogoni leader executed in Nigeria in 1995], why UNPO has chosen Environmental Protection as its thematic focus for 2007 and how Earth Day is an opportunity to bring to the forefront the issues and concerns of UNPO Members in terms of climate change, resource exploitation and environmental degradation.

Amonst the issues discussed and highlighted by UNPO were also the ongoing difficulties faced by many Members in terms of violations of basic human rights and recurrent repression, ranging from exclusion in local and national decision-making procedures as well as denial of the civil and political rights, such as to freedom of assembly and expression, exemplified most recently in the arrest and detention of Southern Cameroons and UNPO Member representative Nfor Ngala Nfor, as well as several other Member cases. This in turn, UNPO argued, bears witness to the relevance and significance of the continued work of the organisation, as an organisation by its Members and for its Members.

Finally, UNPO urged all Hagenaars to visit and take part in UNPO activities, as UNPO celebrates Earth Day in The Hague city centre this coming Saturday 21 April 2007.

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