On Saturday, January 9, the National Lawyers Guild International Committee and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers hosted a webinar on war crimes, international humanitarian law and the U.S. occupation of Hawai’i.
Hawai‘i, a recognized sovereign and independent State since the nineteenth century, has been under a prolonged military occupation by the United States for the past 127 years that has led to the commission of war crimes and human rights violations of unimaginable proportions. In 2019, the Hawaiian Council of Regency proclaimed the establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry whose mandate is to investigate the commission of these war crimes and human rights violations in order to hold to account war criminals in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Watch the full video of the event:
The video is also available on YouTube and Facebook.
Dr. Keanu Sai is a lecturer at the University of Hawai‘i and serves as Hawaiian Minister of the Interior, Minister of Foreign Affairs ad interim, and Head of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. He also served as Agent for the Council of Regency at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, Netherlands, in Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom, PCA case no. 1999-01. Dr. Sai received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in political science specializing in international relations and public law from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
Professor Federico Lenzerini is a professor of international law at the University of Siena, Italy, Department of Political and International Sciences. He is also a Professor at the LL.M. Program in Intercultural Human Rights of the St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, U.S., and Professor of the Tulane-Siena Summer School on International Law, Cultural Heritage and the Arts. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Italian Yearbook of International Law, of the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review and of the Cultural Heritage Law and Policy series. Professor Lenzerini received his Doctor of Law degree from the University of Siena, Italy, and his Ph.D. degree in international law from the University of Bari, Italy.
Both speakers recommended the Royal Commission of Inquiry ebook as a reference for further information: https://hawaiiankingdom.org/pdf/Hawaiian_Royal_Commission_of_Inquiry_(2020).pdf
You may also find Prof. Lenzerini’s legal opinion on the authority of the Council of Regency at: https://hawaiiankingdom.org/
This webinar was organized by the National Lawyers Guild International Committee and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
