Momentum Needed Following UN Report
13 May 2009
Ngāi Tahu says the Crown is building momentum in the area of human rights and should not shy from its responsibility to address new UN recommendations.
This Week the UN Human Rights Council released recommendations for New Zealand. Thirty-six countries raised questions and made recommendations in what is a UN peer-review process where participant nations examine each other's human rights records.
"The Government is showing signs that it will reconsider its opposition to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN has indicated it would also be heartened by such a move," says Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon.
Ngāi Tahu has been pursuing an advocacy programme through the UN for the past five years.
Mark Solomon said the UN had once again cited the Foreshore and Seabed Act as being discriminatory.
"Ngāi Tahu initiated the UN's interest in the Foreshore and Seabed debate and these findings show that the current Act remains a major concern with the UN."
Mark Solomon said the disparities experienced by Maori were referred to in many of the recommendations.
Norway for instance had recommended continued public discussion over the status of the Treaty of Waitangi, with a view to its possible entrenchment as a constitutional norm.
"I believe the New Zealand government is demonstrating that it is not afraid to address these important issues, particularly given the current ministerial review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act."
I join the UN in calling for continued investment in these areas.
ENDS