Inuit Circumpolar Council
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is a multinational non-governmental organization that represents the 150,000 or so Eskimos in the United States , Canada , Greenland and Russia . The organization met for the first time in 1977 as the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and has held a general assembly every four years since then. The ICC is one of the six indigenous organizations that have permanent observer status on the Arctic Council .
The area in which the organization operates includes the following arctic populations and regions:
- Russia: Siberian Yupik ( Chukotka )
- United States: Inupiat and Yupik ( Alaska )
- Canada: Nunavut , Inuvialuit ( Northwest Territories ), Nunavik and Nunatsiavut ( Newfoundland and Labrador )
- Greenland: Kalaallit
Structure and functions
The main goals of the organization are to strengthen bonds among the Eskimos, promote their rights and interests, and contribute to the development of the Inuit culture .
Structurally, the organization, which consists of four separate branches in each of the four nation states, is structured differently depending on the national regulations. The presidents of ICC Russia, ICC Alaska, ICC Canada and ICC Greenland, together with an elected member from each nation, form the eight-member ICC Executive Council. The Executive Board is presided over by an international chair (formerly International President).
The ICC holds a general assembly every four years that brings together representatives of Eskimos from all over the Arctic to discuss issues of international concern to their communities, to set the direction for the work of the organization over the next four years and to take responsibility for thematic areas to be shared between the national branches. The individual Eskimo groups are each represented by a local organization (e.g. Makivik as a representative from Nunavik ). The assembly appoints a chairman from the host country of the general assembly, as well as the members of the executive board, and develops strategies and solutions for the coming period.
In 1996 the organization received the Nordic Council's Nature and Environment Prize . In 2006, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference decided at the General Assembly in Barrow to rename itself the Inuit Circumpolar Council, as the previous name sounds more like a one-time meeting. The 2010 General Assembly took place under the auspices of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark from June 28th to July 2nd in Nuuk , where Aqqaluk Lynge (* 1947) was elected Chairman and the Nuuk Declaration was adopted.