Sulu was a UNPO member between 2015 and 2023. 

Sulu was represented at the UNPO by the Sulu Foundation of Nine Ethnic Tribes (SUFONETI) which aimed to shed light on the systematic marginalisation, structural neglect, and denial of sovereignty of the Sulu people. Their resolution to the UNPO General Assembly called explicitly for “full autonomy and self-determination,” and insisted that Sulu, formerly a sovereign sultanate, should be able to govern its own territory, manage its natural resources, and direct its economic development. 

From the perspective of SUFONETI and many Sulu communities, a range of historical and ongoing injustices underpin their grievances: decades of conflict between Moro (Muslim) groups and the central Philippine state have resulted in military operations, frequent violence in the province (especially around Jolo), destruction of property, displacement, and disruption of livelihoods. The archipelago’s economic potential—from marine resources, fisheries, and trade—remains underdeveloped; local services, education, health, and infrastructure are often insufficient, limiting social and economic mobility for ordinary Sulu residents.

In UNPO, SUFONETI used its platform to demand international recognition of these issues, emphasising that only a negotiated, peaceful resolution granting autonomy (or self-governance) could protect Sulu’s rights and enable sustainable development, reconciliation, and justice for past abuses.

The Sulu people—primarily the Tausūg and related Moro‑Muslim groups inhabiting the Sulu Archipelago—maintain a distinct cultural identity shaped by centuries of maritime life, Islam, and the legacy of the Sultanate of Sulu. Their language (Tausug) belongs to the Austronesian family and remains widely spoken across the archipelago. Social structure historically rested on clan‑ and datuship-based leadership: land (and sea) rights, customary governance, family ties and kinship solidarity remain important, and traditional institutions shaped community life.

Maritime and seafaring heritage is central. Sulu’s long history of sea‑trade, fishing, boat‑building, and navigation fostered a distinctive sea‑oriented lifestyle. Traditional crafts—boat‑building, weaving, metalwork, ship carving and ornamentation—remain part of artisan culture. Spiritual life is dominated by Islam; conversion to Islam transformed earlier animist or Hindu-Buddhist social orders. The arrival of Islam beginning in the late 14th century linked Sulu into broader Islamic maritime networks across Southeast Asia, the Malay world, and beyond. Rituals, religious festivals, and Islamic jurisprudence coexisted with earlier customs—producing a hybrid cultural fabric. 

Human habitation of the Sulu Archipelago predates the Sultanate: archaeological and ethnographic research suggests an early history of coastal foraging, reef‑based subsistence, and maritime adaptation among the region’s diverse island communities. Over time, an ethnogenesis process occurred, shaped by ecological specialization (sea‑faring, trade), social hierarchies, and external influences, producing distinct but interrelated groups. 

Islam began to spread in Sulu in the late 14th century through Arab, Persian, Malay, and Chinese Muslim traders and missionaries. This introduced a new religious, political, and social order. The establishment of the Sultanate of Sulu in the 15th century formalised this transformation: local principalities and clan territories were unified under a central authority, producing a maritime polity with diplomatic, economic, and naval reach across the Sulu Sea, northern Borneo, and parts of Palawan and Mindanao. During the early modern period and through Spanish colonial expansion, the Sultanate resisted subjugation. Despite repeated Spanish expeditions, colonial authorities failed to fully conquer Sulu, organised resistance, sea-mobility, and local autonomy allowed the Sultanate to remain politically and culturally resilient for centuries. 

However, by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, colonial and imperial pressures increased. After the Spanish-American War, the Philippines was ceded to the United States. The U.S. tried to integrate Muslim regions into a centralised Philippine state. In 1915, under American rule, the Sultanate’s temporal political power was formally abolished through agreements that many Sulu view as coerced or lacking full legitimacy. Under successive Philippine governments, Sulu experienced cycles of marginalisation and conflict. Integration into a predominantly Christian, centralised state—with land reforms, demographic shifts, and state policies often disconnected from Moro social structures—undermined traditional authority, disrupted communal governance and economic systems, and marginalised Sulu’s seafaring‑maritime and agricultural livelihoods. These developments contributed to social tension and, eventually, to the broader Moro struggle for recognition, autonomy, and self-determination.