Les Malezer, a member of Cultural Survival's board of directors, has just been elected the first co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, which aims to unite all of the country's Indigenous populations and represent their interests in the nation as a whole. As he said in his speech after the election, "This is a truly historical occasion where, for the first time since colonization began, our people have exercised the right to unreservedly elect their own national leaders in their own national organization." Malezer, a member of the Gabi Gabi community in Australia, has also served as the chair of the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus at the United Nations, and was instrumental in the adoption by the UN of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. To read his comments about the election, click here.
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