It is the time of the year that we contemplate the past, the present and the future and continue to strive for a better world, a better future for the Zomi. As we enter the New Year, the Zomi International Network declares our theme for the year 2012: “It’s Time!” Zomi International Network was founded on January 29, 2000 with its primary objective “To build mutual understanding among the Zomi who are known by different names; Chin, Kuki, Mizo and Lushai”. This objective was evolved into a higher level of commitment in the year 2003. With the support and active participation of the people we serve, ZONET set three core missions: Inform, Inspire, and Involve.

Over the last decades, our missions have been carried out by electronic media, through the medium of internet and websites, and online groups - providing a forum of dialogue for Zomi leaders and the general public, by sharing information and knowledge which resulted into the formation of an open and informed society. By participating in these dialogues and encouraging free speech and the formation of civil societies at various levels of our society, our mission is accomplished today.

The vision of Zomi International Network is “a future in which all Zomi work together to protect their rights and freedoms and solve the problems facing by Zomi today”.

For the past five years, we have seen the formation of organizations that can serve the need of Zomi and meet the challenge of today. The year 2011 has brought historic millstones for our people with the formation of Global Zomi Alliance (GZA) and the reorganization of the Chin National Front (CNF). The World Zomi Congress was formed in 2010. It proclaimed to protect the rights of all the Zomi. In the year 2009, Zomi Communities Organization (Leitungbup Zomi Innkuan Kipawlna) was formed by a coalition of local community organizations to work for the development of Zomi around the world. To provide and fulfill the spiritual needs of Zomi, the Zomi Christian Alliance and the Global Chin Christian Fellowship were formed in 2006 and 2010.

We have witnessed the unity and determinations of these organizations to restore our freedom and liberate our nation from segregation, poverty and oppression of repressive regimes. We are in a new year and a new era of promises and new opportunities national unity and development in all sectors of socio-political and economic development with the changing of political environment in Myanmar today. At the national level in Myanmar and India, we applaud the effort of Zomi National Congress, the Zomi Council and the Zomi Reunification Organization (ZRO) and the Zo Reunification Organization (ZORO). We believe, with a continuous determination for the ultimate goal, they will accomplish self-determination of the people, a full integration and reunification of the Zomi in India and Myanmar in the near future.

Zomi International Network, therefore call upon individuals and the existing Zomi institutions that encompass the entire Zomi population all over the world, to take collective action and materialize the dreams of the people. It’s the time for unity, a time for coordination and a time of action.

With the spirit of unity and unending commitment in our endeavor to serve Zomi in the past 11 years, the mission and vision of Zomi International Network has now been accomplished. Zomi International Network will continue to provide our service wherever and whenever it is called for with a new mission and vision in the coming decade. We believe the punctuated equilibrium in the history of Zomi has come to a new beginning. It’s Time!