Membership of UNPO has been hailed as a first step to projecting the concerns of South Africa’s Afrikaners onto the international stage.

Below is an article reported by the South African Press Association and published by the Sowetan:

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), at its General Assembly in Brussels over the weekend, accepted the Afrikaner people as one of its 70 members which include Australia’s Aboriginals, the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania and Tibetan monks.

According to the Freedom Front Plus, the inclusion in this international pressure group was one of the parties’ greatest achievement’s to date.

“If you look at the situation in South Africa at the moment, it would be unwise for a group such as the Afrikaner not to consider other options, and one of those options is to internationalize our case,” Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder told reporters at a press conference in Pretoria on Monday.

UNPO’s membership consists of indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories.

“It is an organisation that fights for the right of the world’s silent voices,” Mulder said.

It has grown from its original 15 founders, to representing almost 70 members worldwide.

Except for minority groupings, it also includes countries that have declared independence and have not been recognised internationally such as Somaliland which is part of Somalia, and Iraq’s Kurdistan.

The organisation lobbies internationally for the rights of these communities and countries including at the United Nations and European Parliament. […]