The 11th Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) General Assembly is in full swing in Nuuk. Starting on 28 June and lasting the whole week, The General Assembly will culminate on 1 July with the host of the event, ICC Greenland, formally taking over the Chairmanship from ICC Alaska for the next 4-year term. The same day will see the election of a new international chairperson as well as the presentation of a new Executive Council.

Testifying to colonial power structures still in place and ruling the lives of Arctic peoples, the 22 delegates of ICC Chukotka has travelled all the way through Russia and via Copenhagen, Denmark, to meet with their kinsfolk and indigenous associates from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Breaking the colonial structures, however, delegates from Canada has arrived in Nuuk on a chartered plane via Iqaluit, Nunavut

The gathering of the world’s Inuit leaders aims at strengthening unity among Inuit. They work to secure and develop Inuit culture and society, but their discussions also comprise inuit participation in political, economic and social developments. ICC - among other things in its capacity as a permanent participant in the Arctic Council - develops and encourages long-term policies for countering impacts of climate change in the Arctic and the rest of the world. Last but not least ICC works for international recognition of human and Indigenous rights of Inuit.

Among the matters to be discussed are following:
· Environment, including Climate Change
· Political and economic development
· Health and Well-being
· Hunting and Food Security
· Governance
· Inuit Arctic Policy

In addition to the political agenda, the General Assembly is garnished with an abundance of cultural and entertaining events, among them a film festival with a packed program of documentaries and features from all over the Inuit world.
Foto by Nuka Moeller

For further information about the 11th ICC GA click here