The Rapa Nui Nation is the indigenous people from Rapa Nui Island, otherwise known as “Easter Island.”   It is the most remote place on the planet where civilization flourished, it is 3,000 miles from Chile to the east, and from Tahiti to the west.

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On Dec. 3, 2010 Chilean police special forces used overwhelming violence against unarmed Rapa Nui people.  At least 25 Rapa Nui clan members, men and women,  were shot with pellets and beaten with rifles, some  sustaining very serious  permanent injuries.

The Rapa Nui Nation entered into an agreement with Chile in 1888, in which the Rapa Nui invited the Chileans to be their friends.   Chile used the treaty as license to treat the island and the  indigenous people as the property of the state. Several thousand   Rapa Nui individuals were sold to Peru as slaves; Chile confined the rest of the people in a small area   of the island called Hanga Roa. Rapa Nui Island became part of Chile in 1933, without the consent of  the Rapa Nui Nation.

Chile leased the entire island and the Rapa Nui people to private sheep-herding enterprises without their consent.    Until 1966, the Rapa Nui individuals remaining on the island could only leave their encampment with permission. If they left to engage in traditional pursuits, fishing or farming, they were severely punished or killed.

Chile changed its policy in 1966 with respect to Rapa Nui individuals. Rapa Nui

individuals are no longer subject to punishment for leaving Hanga Roa; they are now considered citizens of Chile.    Chile has not, however, modified its policy with respect to the collective rights of the Rapa Nui clans.   The lands which were wrongly taken from the Rapa Nui clans have not been restored. Instead of returning the lands to the rightful  owners, the Chilean government continues to favor private enterprises interested in  exploiting the Rapa Nui culture for private gain.

Today, thousands of tourists flock to Rapa Nui Island to view the Moai (large sculptures  created by the ancestors of the present-day Rapa Nui Nation that have deep spiritual  significance); unfortunately, Chilean policies prevent the Rapa Nui from benefitting from  the tourism. Much of the land is in possession of non-indigenous individuals and  corporations. Jobs related to tourism go to continental Chileans. Uncontrolled migration  to the island has led to a crisis with already insufficient public health and environmental  systems stretched to a breaking point.  

Within this context, the Rapa Nui clans began taking a stand.   In 2009, they occupied the  airport to bring attention to the problem of uncontrolled migration.  In August 2010, the  clans began peacefully reoccupying their wrongly taken lands. This occupation included a  five star hotel, the “Hanga Roa,” being built by the Schiess family, a non-indigenous  family, on lands belonging to a Rapa Nui clan.

Chile first reacted to the occupations by initiating dialogue between governmental  representatives and some Rapa Nui individuals.    But instead of respecting the Rapa Nui  collective rights of self-determination and self-government, Chile refused to talk with  most of the legitimate representatives of the Rapa Nui clans.    Instead, Chile selected who  would participate at the roundtables on mainland Chile. Even before concluding the discussions, Chilean  forces violently carried out three evictions, in September, October, and on Dec. 3, 2010, with police forces threatening  entire families, including minor children.

The Indian Law Resource Center filed a Request for Precautionary Measures with the  Inter-American Commission of Human Rights which was issued in early February 2011. 

Ongoing fundraising is needed to support the Rapa Nui clans battle for human and land rights continues in the Chilean courts, with the Rapa Nui clans fighting against multinational corporations and the Chilean government.

Simultaneously we are working to reforest the island to save the topsoil from being washed and blown away.