NHLC helps Native Hawaiians assert their rights to perpetuate their traditional way of life, rights guaranteed by state constitutional and statutory law.
Water Rights
The right to access traditional sources of water for Hawaiian crops, most notably kalo (taro), has been a pressing concern for Native Hawaiian farmers. Their right to adequate water for traditional Hawaiian crops attached to land awards issued during the mid-1800s by the Hawaiian Kingdom. State statutory law also safeguards these rights. NHLC has assisted many farmers with asserting these rights, most recently in East Maui.
"By returning water to streams, NHLC is endeavoring to “take rights that presently appear on paper and give life to those rights which in fact are imbued with constitutional protection.”
--Moses Haia, Executive Director
Access Rights
NHLC also defends the use of traditional access routes to the ocean and forests to gather, fish, and practice as their ancestors did. With NHLC’s representation, Native Hawaiians have fended off development that threatened sacred cultural sites, and traditional access routes to the ocean and forests.
Burial Protection
The protection of na kupuna `oiwi (Native Hawaiian burials) is also a priority for NHLC. Time and time again, construction activities have resulted in the descretion of na kupuna ‘oiwi, despite a strong mandate for their protection under state law. NHLC is at the forefront of the battle to ensure that this mandate is met.
“Our kupuna iwi are sacred. Our mana is in the iwi of our ancestors and therefore when our iwi are desecrated, it is extremely hurtful, deeply hurtful to us. Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation at anytime when it has been approached on issues regarding burials, we have always endeavored to do our very best to protect. It is a very, very high priority. It’s in the realm of the sacred.”
--Mahealani Wendt, former Executive Director
Protecting Traditional and Customary Practices in Contemporary Settings
Traditional and cultural practices are often compromised by modern institutions. NHLC has expanded its services to address contemporary challenges to their way of life.
NHLC has worked to secure the rights of Native Hawaiians to practice the indigenous religion, though serving their sentences in prisons on the mainland.
NHLC has also challenged the failure of hospitals to recognize the cultural significance of placentas in Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practice. Classified as toxic waste, placentas were destroyed by hospitals. This policy and practice was odious to the Native Hawaiian tradition of burying the placenta in a place of significance.