As the year comes to an end, we celebrate 2024 as a landmark for UNPO, a year of renewed strength, revitalized vision, and transformative growth.
This year marked the unveiling of UNPO’s new Strategic Plan 2024-2027, with a larger advisory board and new members that joined the organization: Gilgit-Baltistan, a constitutionally unrecognized region in the northernmost part of Pakistan, and Annobon, an island in the Gulf of Guinea historically representing a minority in Equatorial Guinea.
UNPO’s advocacy efforts reached new heights, with activities that ranged from submissions to international bodies to engagement in members’ conferences, participation in the UN Forum on Minority Issues, and capacity-building workshops. These workshops included the first-ever UNPO Youth-led Study Session, hosted with the support of the Council of Europe in Budapest. This event brought together 21 youth activists from 15 different communities to share insights and strategies for advancing their causes.
Over the year, UNPO submitted a dozen reports to various UN bodies and special rapporteurs highlighting critical human rights situations. These included reports on environmental issues, such as the environmental degradation of the wetland in the Al-Ahwaz region, water and natural resource mismanagement in the Baluch province in Iran, and a detailed report on the pressing environmental challenges in Annobon. Other reports addressed issues related to arbitrary detention in Iranian Kurdistan (report on Kurdish journalist Jina Modares Gorji, report on the detention of five members of the Nojin Cultural Association), Oromo (report on the detention of 7 members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and Western Togoland (input to WGAD on the detention of members of the HSGF).
Reports submitted in collaboration with its members also included submissions concerning human rights violations in Nagalim, Catalonia, and against the Hmong population, and submissions for the UPRs of the Kingdom of Spain, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ethiopia, and for the CCPR session on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
Throughout the year, UNPO celebrated significant milestones with its members. Highlights included the launch of the new Branz Baluch online cultural magazine was launched in a community meeting for the Baluch diaspora community in Stockholm, and the celebration of the release of the 7 OLF members, as well as the acquittal of Soma Pourmohammadi, a member of the Nojin Cultural Association, in October.
UNPO’s active participation in member-led advocacy extended to key events, such as UNPO’s Secretary General participation in a global conference hosted by the World Sindh Congress on self-determination and international alliances, and in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement on systemic oppression and the persistent enslavement of the Haratin in Mauritania. As part of its reengagement efforts with founding members, our Secretary General visited Estonia to honor the legacy of Linnart Mäll and his Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, adopted in 2001 by UNPO’s General Assembly in Tallinn.
UNPO extends heartfelt thanks to its members, Presidency Board, Management Committee, Advisory Board and Secretariat, whose tireless work and unwavering commitment have made these achievements possible.
As we step into 2025, UNPO remains committed in its mission to amplify the voices of unrepresented nations and peoples, striving for justice, equality, and self-determination across the globe.
