Going Global

Determined to broadcast the confiscation of its rights to the highest possible forum, Māori took their grievance about the proposed foreshore and seabed legislation to the United Nations.

The Treaty Tribes Coalition, represented by Ngāi Tahu's former deputy kaiwhakahaere Edward Ellison and Legal and Risk Services Unit manager Peter Doolin, delivered four interventions (submissions) to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2004.

The team spent two weeks in New York and Ellison said at the time he hoped this intervention to the UN would send a clear message to the government about the enormity of the action they had taken and the contempt they had shown for Māori rights.

Writing in TE KARAKA (Kōanga 2004), Howard Keene said while at the UN, Ellison and Doolin were "adopted" by the Pacific Caucus, who regularly raised issues of concern about indigenous people in Pacific nations.

The resolution sought from the forum was to recommend the New Zealand government abandon the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The New York experience enabled the team to draw on the expertise of people in similar positions and be part of a growing international trend towards governments wiping out rights that give certainty to some at the expense of indigenous people.

In 2005 UN Special Rapporteur Rodolfo Stavenhagen visited New Zealand to check on the human rights status of Māori. During his eight days in the country he spoke to government ministers, departments, and agencies, and to Māori communities.

Stavenhagen's report was released in April 2006. In his report to NZ's government, he recommended the Foreshore and Seabed Act be repealed or amended, and the government should engage in Treaty settlement negotiations with Māori to recognise inherent Māori rights in the foreshore and seabed area. He also recommended the government establish regulatory mechanisms to allow full and free access for the general public to beaches and coastal areas.

Search For Calm Waters

Hīkoi

Gale-force winds marked the change blowing through New Zealand politics when they ushered a 20,000 strong crowd into Parliament grounds to protest the government's legislation on the foreshore and seabed in May 2004. [More...]

Going Global

Determined to broadcast the confiscation of its rights to the highest possible forum, Māori took their grievance about the proposed foreshore and seabed legislation to the United Nations. [More...]

For the Love of People

"Who me? Why would you want me? I don't know anything about fish." This was the stunned response of Hana O'Regan when she was asked to sit on the Foreshore and Seabed Panel. The Māori education and culture specialist says it was an instinctive response. "I thought they must have the wrong O'Regan." [More...]

Māori Party Evolution

The Māori Party was born in 2004 on a wave of fierce pride and fury amid claims that the Labour Government was riding roughshod over Māori rights and cultural traditions when it passed the Foreshore and Seabed Act. [More...]

Inside Issue 45

SEARCH FOR CALM WATERS

THROUGH THE TREES

MEETING TŪTOKO

ULVA'S ISLAND

ARM STRONG

COUNTRY EXPEDITION

HAVE YIKE, WILL TRAVEL

 

Issue #45 Published Dec 2009
© Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu