22 Facts About Susanna Ounei

Susanna Ounei was a Kanak independence activist and feminist from New Caledonia who spent her last years in New Zealand.

Susanna Ounei supported various other causes including a nuclear free Pacific and Maori independence.

Susanna Ounei was born in 1945 in Ouvea in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia.

Susanna Ounei grew up in Poindimie on the east coast of New Caledonia.

Susanna Ounei had a job in a bank, and often used her wages to help other members of the group.

Susanna Ounei participated in the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement and in the Pacific women's movement.

Susanna Ounei has pointed out that Kanak women were involved in "grassroots" activism from the mid-19th century, when they tried to hide their husbands and children from the French armies.

In 1974 Susanna Ounei was arrested and beaten for expressing her opposition to the celebration of the colonization of New Caledonia on 24 September 1853.

In prison Susanna Ounei developed the concept of the feminist Groupe de femmes kanak exploitees en lutte with other women including Dewe Gorodey, at that time the only Kanak woman to have ever received a college education.

In July 1983, Susanna Ounei chained herself along with other activists to a building representing the French state in solidarity with other prisoners.

Susanna Ounei expressed hostility to the Christian Church, which she felt had corrupted the custom and perpetrated male dominance.

Susanna Ounei lost her job in Noumea due to her work for Kanak independence, and early in 1984 went to New Zealand to learn English.

Susanna Ounei lived in New Zealand, attended the University of Canterbury, where she earned a degree in sociology, and published several works about Kanak independence.

Susanna Ounei married a New Zealander, David Small, in 1986.

Two of Susanna Ounei's brothers were killed by French troops during New Caledonia resistance activities in April 1988.

Susanna Ounei had carefully selected members whom she felt to have sound political views.

In 1995 Susanna Ounei represented the project at the United Nations headquarters in New York during the final preparatory conference for Beijing.

Susanna Ounei ensured that the draft Global Plan of Action included a statement on the situation of women in colonized territories.

Susanna Ounei spoke at the 1995 UN NGO Forum on Women, where she said the accords with the French in the late 1980s had not seriously addressed the concerns of Kanak women.

In Beijing Susanna Ounei spoke at a Forum plenary session on "Obstacles to Peace and Human Security", and participated in a global tribunal arranged by the Asian Women's Human Rights Council.

Susanna Ounei remained on Ouvea until 2000 when she returned to Wellington, New Zealand, with her two adopted children.

Susanna Ounei died in Wellington on 21 June 2016, aged 70.