Inuit Circumpolar Council
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC; Greenlandic: Inuit Issittormiut Siunnersuisooqatigiiffiat; formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference) is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit, Yupik, and Chukchi peoples (sometimes referred to as Eskimo) people living in Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark), and Chukotka (Russia). ICC was ECOSOC-accredited and was granted special consultative status (category II) at the UN in 1983.
Inuit Circumpolar Council
| |
The logo of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Stylised motif of a frame drum with a handle and a stick | |
Member states and regions of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. | |
| Abbreviation | ICC |
|---|---|
| Formation | June 1980 |
| Founded at | Nuuk, Greenland |
| Type | Inter- and multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) |
| Legal status | active |
| Purpose | To promote and to ensure rights, interests, and the development of Inuit culture and languages. |
| Headquarters | Anchorage, Alaska Ottawa, Canada Nuuk, Greenland Anadyr, Russia |
Region served | 4 regions
|
Membership | 180,000 |
Official languages | English, French |
Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council | Sara Olsvig |
Vice-Chairs of the Inuit Circumpolar Council | President of ICC Alaska Marie Greene President of ICC Canada Lisa Qiluqqi Koperqualuk President of ICC Greenland Kuupik V. Kleist President of ICC Russia Irina Mishina |
Main organ | ICC International |
| Website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| Indigenous rights |
|---|
| Rights |
|
| Governmental organizations |
| NGOs and political groups |
|
| Issues |
|
| Legal representation |
| Countries |
| Category |
The Conference, which first met in June 1977 in Barrow, Alaska (now Utqiaġvik), initially represented Native Peoples from Canada, Alaska and Greenland. In 1980 the charter and by-laws of ICC were adopted. The Conference agreed to replace the term Eskimo with the term Inuit. This has not however met with widespread acceptance by some groups, most pre-eminently the Yupik (see Background section below). The goals of the Conference are to strengthen ties between Arctic people and to promote human, cultural, political and environmental rights and polities at the international level.
ICC holds a General Assembly every four years. ICC is one of the six Arctic indigenous communities to have the status of Permanent Participant on the Arctic Council.