New Zealand Herald
|
|
|
Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen |
UN foreshore report 'unbalanced'
05.04.06
By Audrey Young
Click on link at foot of page for the full report
The
Government has slammed a special United Nations Human Rights Commission report
on the situation of Maori in New Zealand as unbalanced and narrow and
effectively accused it of interference.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen said the report by Professor Rodolfo
Stavenhagen "was an attempt to tell us how to manage
our political system".
"That may be fine in countries without a proud democratic tradition but not in
New Zealand, where we prefer to debate and find
solutions to these issues ourselves."
The highly critical report comes as an embarrassment to a Government that has so
wholeheartedly embraced the United Nations.
Professor Stavenhagen recommends that the Foreshore and Seabed Act be replaced
or amended and that the Government engage in Treaty settlement negotiation with
Maori "that would recognise the inherent rights of Maori in the foreshore and
seabed, and establish regulatory mechanisms allowing for the free and full
access by the general public to the country's beaches and coastal area without
discrimination of any kind".
But Dr Cullen has seized on its further recommendations, such as
entrenching the Treaty of Waitangi in law as a
constitutional document
and giving the Waitangi Tribunal binding powers of adjudication.
The report was sought by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights following
the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.
The Maori Party, which was formed in opposition to the law, hailed it as an
accurate portrayal of life for Maori.
"The Maori Party received this report with a heavy heart," said co-leader
Tariana Turia. "It records for the world to see an
appalling picture of 'bad news' about the way in which the Government has
systematically ignored or neglected the position of Maori in this country."
The law abolished the right to claim customary title to
the foreshore and seabed through the courts, with no possible redress except
negotiations with the Government.
The author of the report, Mr Stavenhagen, is the Commission on Human Rights
special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedom of indigenous people.
He visited New Zealand in November and attended four hui as well as talking to a
range of politicians and officials.
The report gives a historic overview of colonisation, of land rights issues, and
attempts to address social disparities between Maori and non-Maori.
It finds that Maori have the perception that "all along they have been junior
partners in the [treaty] relationship".
It says that was exemplified in complex land rights issues which led to "a
latent crisis" that broke over the foreshore and seabed issue.
And it argues for a resumption of measures based on ethnicity "to strengthen the
social economic and cultural rights of Maori".
Dr Cullen said the report was full of errors of fact and interpretation and
"probably underlines the fact that the committee it comes from is being wrapped
up and reformed".
Dr Cullen shepherded the contentious legislation
through Parliament. It eventually passed with the support of New
Zealand First, whose leader, Winston Peters, also slammed the report yesterday.
"It is sad that the unique and complex social reality in New Zealand, including
the high proportion of intermarriage between Maori and other ethnicities, was
ignored as a result of a rigid ideological approach far removed from the reality
of most New Zealanders."
Dr Cullen and Prime Minister Helen Clark have known for two weeks that the
report has been on the UNHRC website but said nothing.
IN A NUTSHELL: THE UN REPORT
The task
Rodolfo Stavenhagen, a Mexican professor, was asked by the United
Nations Commission of Human Rights to visit New Zealand and report on the
situation of indigenous people, including the implications of the Foreshore and
Seabed Act. He visited last November and met politicians, Government
departments, iwi groups and non-government organisations.
The conclusions:
"Having been dispossessed of most of their lands and resources by the
Crown for the benefit of Pakeha, Maori had to accept sporadic and insufficient
redress, only to be faced with accusations that they were receiving undue
privileges, which left in their wake resentments on both sides about perceived
social and racial tensions. The latent crisis broke over the controversy
concerning the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, whereby the Crown extinguished all
Maori extant [existing] rights to the foreshore and seabed in the name of the
public interest and at the same time opened up the possibility for the
recognition by the Government of customary use and practices through complicated
and restrictive judicial and administrative procedures."
The recommendations:
* Repeal or amend the Foreshore and Seabed Act and start Treaty
negotiations to recognise the inherent rights of Maori in the foreshore and
seabed.
* Entrench the Treaty of Waitangi constitutionally to recognise Maori as having
an alternative system of knowledge, philosophy and law.
* Entrench MMP to guarantee adequate Maori representation in Parliament and at
regional and local level.
* Give the Waitangi Tribunal binding powers of adjudication.
* Permanently incorporate Maori sacred sites and other places of significance to
Maori into national cultural heritage.
* Establish an independent commission to monitor media for balance and
non-racist reporting and to suggest remedial action.
The responses
"It will be widely read and no doubt widely discussed and then nothing much will
happen". - Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen.
"The Maori Party believes the report ... is a very accurate and balanced
depiction of the reality for tangata whenua in this land." - Tariana Turia,
co-leader Maori Party.
|
Links |
|
|
• |
|