Mililani Trask
Biographical Information
Mililani Trask is a Native Hawaiian attorney with an extensive
background on Native Hawaiian land trusts, resources and legal entitlements.
Her work has been cited by the Hawaii Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights and published by Cultural Survival and IWGIA Magazines
on issues relating to native people and human and civil rights.
In October 1993, Ms. Trask was invited to become a member of the prestigious
Indigenous Initiative for Peace (IIP), a global body of indigenous leaders
convened by Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu-Tum, the United Nations Goodwill
Ambassador to the UN Decade on Indigenous Peoples. Since that time, Ms.
Trask has worked in the global arena for passage of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this respect, Ms.
Trask attended and participated in the United National Global Consultations
in Cairo, Beijing, Copenhagen and Vienna as a Pacific Delegate to the
indigenous caucus.
In 1995, Ms. Trask was elected the second Vice Chair of the General Assembly
of Nations of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organizations (UNPO),
an international body comprised of the unrecognized nations of the world.
UNPO was founded in 1991 by his holiness, the Dalai Lama, as an alternative
forum to the United Nations. Ms. Trask assumed the position vacated by
Ken Sarowira, the Ogoni human rights' advocate, who was killed by the
Nigerian Government.
Ms. Trask is a founding member and current Chair of the Indigenous Women's
Network, a coalition of Native American Women whose work includes community
based economic development, social justice, human rights, housing and
health.
Ms. Trask is an acknowledged Peace advocate and has studied and worked
for seven years with Mother Theresa of Calcutta.
Ms. Trask is the Convener for a Native Hawaiian NGO entitled Na Koa Ikaika
o Ka Lahui Hawaii that has worked in the international arena on the Draft
Declaration for Indigenous Peoples and the World Conference on Racism
for 15 years.
From 1987--1998, Ms. Trask served and the Interim and elected Kia'aina
(Governor/Prime Minister) of Ka Lahui Hawaii, the Native Hawaiian Nation,
with a citizenry of over 20,000 Hawaiians.
From 1998 -- 2000, Ms. Trask was elected to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
as Trustee at Large.
Ms. Trask has served as the Executive Director of the Gibson Foundation
from 1987 to present, a private, non-profit dedicated to assisting Native
Hawaiians with housing issues, and housing programs.
In 2001, Ms. Trask was nominated and appointed as the Pacific representative
to Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to serve a three-year term beginning
Jan. 1, 2002. Ms. Trask was appointed to the position by the President
of the Economic Social Council of the United Nations and is currently
considered an indigenous expert to the United Nations in international
and human rights law.
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