|
Latest Updates:
NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT LOBBYING
AT UNITED NATIONS AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
18/10/06 Report
by Claire Charters (Aotearoa Indigenous Rights Trust) at the
United Nations in New York, on the lobbying the New Zealand government
is doing against the DRIP at the UN General Assembly.
16/10/06 - Statement made by NZ representative to the UN
on the DRIP.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADOPTS
TEXT FOR RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
29/06/06
The Human Rights Council this
afternoon adopted by a roll-call vote of 30 in favour to 2 against
and 12 abstentions a resolution on the Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples. The Council adopted the declaration as
proposed by the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group of
the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration
and recommended that the General Assembly adopt the non-binding
declaration.
Participating in the debate
to adopt the resolutions were the representatives of Argentina,
Guatemala, Finland, Peru, Japan, Algeria, United Kingdom, Canada,
Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Guatemala, Switzerland, Mexico, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Russian Federation, China, Philippines, Brazil, Ukraine,
Mauritius, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
Action on Resolution on
Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples
In a resolution (A/HRC/1/L.3),
entitled Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate
a draft declaration in accordance with paragraph 5 of the General
Assembly resolution 49/214 of 23 December 1994, adopted after
a roll-call vote by thirty in favour, two against, and twelve
abstentions, the Human Rights Council adopts the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as proposed by
the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group of the Commission
on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration in accordance
with paragraph 5 of the General Assembly resolution 49/214 of
23 December 1994 in annex I to the report of the Working Group
on its eleventh session (E/CN.4/2006/79); recommends to the General
Assembly that it adopt the following draft resolution:
"The General Assembly,
expresses its appreciation to the Council for the adoption of
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
and adopts the Declaration as contained in the annex to Council
resolution 2006/...."
The United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says indigenous peoples have
the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals,
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in
the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and international human rights law. Indigenous
peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples
and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of
discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular
that based on their indigenous origin or identity. Indigenous
peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that
right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Indigenous
peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct
political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions,
while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so
choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life
of the State.
The result of the vote was
as follows:
In favour (30): Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, China,
Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala,
India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands,
Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switerzland, United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Zambia.
Against (2): Canada, Russian Federation.
Abstentions (12): Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Ghana, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, Tunisia,
Ukraine.
Absent (3): Djibouti, Gabon, Mali.
-----
Ingidenous Peoples Regional
Caucus' Statements on the HRC Adoption of the Chair's Text: Latin
America | North America
| Arctic | Africa
| Pacific | Asia
| NGOs
-----
Analysis
of the Chair's Text
prepared for Maori, other indigenous peoples and NZ public by
Estebancio Castro Diaz and Tracey Whare. Also Chair's
Text and his accompanying Report.
-----
NZ PUT UP
OR SHUT UP: NZ ACTIVELY OPPOSES ANY UN DECLARATION ON INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES
22 June
2006
The newly established
UN Human Rights Council is meeting in Geneva over the next two
weeks. Yesterday, in the general segment of the Council's Agenda,
statements were read by national delegations, UN specialized
agencies and other bodies.
New Zealand
availed itself of the opportunity to both express its honour
at Chairing the negotiations for a new draft Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and its rigorous opposition
to the appeal to the new Council to demonstrate moral leadership
and make its mark on history by adopting, at its first session,
the Declaration of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Don Mackay,
Permanent Representative, NZ Permanent Mission to Geneva , stated
"New Zealand cannot associate itself with this text which,
despite our most strenuous efforts and genuine intentions, remains
fundamentally flawed."
Underlying
NZ's statement is a failure by government to respond to a practical
way forward to a diplomatic impasse that has plagued the draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for the past
10 years. NZ has participation in the annual negotiations from
their inception, and far from being passive participants, NZ
actively pursued every possible prospect to force its opinions
into a consensus text that will eventually be adopted by all
191 UN member states. Many, if not most of NZ's concerns have
been accommodated, but government continues to whine that every
single concern it has expressed (in an ever-growing and ever-changing
list) isn't able to withstand scrutiny or gain the support of
other UN member states , and of indigenous peoples globally.
The Crown has
not engaged in any meaningful way with Maori since August 2001
despite frequent requests from Maori organisations and individuals
active in the draft Declaration processes. Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Hon. Winston Peters, on numerous occasions has stressed
the importance for Government's foreign policy to be guided and
informed by our domestic policy. The domestic policy around the
draft Declaration seems to be one that exempts Government from
talking to the people who will be most affected by this international
Declaration.
Don Mackay's
statement also stressed that the Human Rights Council "needs
to make sure that it delivers quality outcomes and supports proper
process." But, what is New Zealand's process?
Government
participated in the original negotiations of the draft Declaration
(1986-1994). It participated in the subsequent Inter-governmental
sessions (WGDD 1995-
2005), and when a proposal was put forward by the Chair of the
WGDD to table a new 'compromise' text, and momentum quickly developed
to have the Chair's text adopted, New Zealand objected. NZ even
took the floor on behalf of Australia, NZ and the US to oppose
the Chair's text as being fundamentally flawed.
But earlier
this year, Hon Winston Peters in a letter to Aroha Mead and the
1000+ signatories calling for the Crown to engage with Maori
on the Government's position on the draft Declaration, described
the original text of the draft Declaration as being unworkable
for New Zealand. He also incorrectly said that the original Declaration
had been drafted by NGOs. For the record, it was drafted in an
inclusive process involving both States and indigenous organisations
and was the first time in the UN's history that the peoples most
affected by a Declaration were included at the outset in its
development.
So what is
it that New Zealand actually wants? Government has placed on
official record its opposition to the original draft Declaration
and now it consider's the compromise Chair's text to be fundamentally
flawed. It complains that the new Chair's text hasn't emerged
through a proper process, but also complains that the original
Declaration, negotiated over twenty years, is 'unworkable'. It
hasn't engaged with Maori on the Declaration for the past six
years and yet counsels the new UN Human Rights Council "to
look, feel and act differently. We must concentrate our efforts
on real dialogue."
The time has
come for New Zealand to either put-up a constructive solution
that is not based on whining and complaining about other's efforts
to realise a badly needed international human rights instrument
to protect the rights of the world's over 350,000 million indigenous
peoples, or else, shut-up and not stand in the way of progress.
-----
For further
information contact: Aroha Te Pareake Mead
Maori Business, Victoria Management School, Wellington - aroha.mead@vuw.ac.nz or (04) 463-6911
-----
The
statement made by the NZ Permanent Representative to the UN at
the newly established Human Rights Council, in which NZ says amongst things,
the following:
[Para 5] "Standard setting will continue to be important.
The draft Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
is an important issue for the human rights community. New Zealand
is honoured to chair the negotiations on the draft Convention,
which we will strive to conclude this year.
[Para 6] New Zealand is committed
to advancing the rights of other groups including women, children
and indigenous peoples. However, consensus in setting new standards
must be an objective. And, the new Human Rights Council needs
to make sure that it delivers quality outcomes and supports proper
process. Sadly, that is not yet the case with the Chair's text
for the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
New Zealand cannot associate itself with this text which, despite
our most strenuous efforts and genuine intentions, remains fundamentally
flawed. We want a consensus decision and a text that is capable
of practical implementation."
The
statement read by Victoria Corpuz, Chairman of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues at the opening of the UNPFII. In her closing paragraph,
Vicky says the following "At the dawn of this new century,
indigenous peoples must be viewed as full partners towards a
common future of humanity, where cultural diversity and human
rights for all will be respected. At the Fifth Session of the
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, more than 150 indigenous
peoples’ organizations and networks, all over the world,
submitted a statement asking for the General Assembly to adopt
the Declaration. Several observer governments also spoke calling
for the same. It is in partnership with these indigenous peoples’
organizations and member-states of the UN, that the Permanent
Forum came up with this recommendation. I therefore reiterate
and appeal to this Council to demonstrate its moral leadership
and make its mark on history by adopting, at this first session,
the Declaration of the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
17 countries, lead by Peru are supporting the immediate adoption
of the compromise Chair's text
The
letter drafted to the NZ government by Moana Jackson on behalf of the 60+ people who participated
in the dDRIP seminar on 17 June 2006 at Te Papa. The workshop
was chaired by Aroha Mead, and included Vicky Tauili Corpuz (UNPFII
Chair), Moana Jackson and Tracey Whare. The letter to Hon Winston
Peters asks:
That the New Zealand government
refrain from its current unhelpful stance, and decline to make
any further interventions opposing the Declaration at the UN
Human Rights Council or other fora.
That the Government re-open
meaningful dialogue with Maori in regard to the Declaration and
the Chair’s text.
That the government assist
Maori to hold appropriate dialogue on the issues.
|
[01/07/06] Reports by Claire
Charters (Aotearoa
Indigenous Rights Trust) from Geneva on the proceedings of
the Human Rights Council vote on the dDRIP: Pre-Vote
Report | Post-Vote Report
[30/06/06] Indigenous Peoples
Regional Caucus' Statements on the HRC Adoption of the Chair's
Text: Latin America
| North America | Arctic
| Africa | Pacific
| Asia | NGOs
[30/06/06] HUMAN RIGHTS
COUNCIL ADOPTS TEXT FOR RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES... click here for more details.
[28/06/06] Asian Indigenous
Peoples' Caucus endorses Chair's Text... click
here for more details.
[27/06/06] Tamaki Treaty
Workers oppose further NZ intervention without proper public
consultation on NZ position... click here
for more details.
[26/06/06] Analysis
of the Chair's Text prepared for Maori, other indigenous
peoples and NZ public by Estebancio Castro Diaz and Tracey
Whare.
[26/06/06] Chair's
Text & his accompanying Report based on the many
proposals for changes put forward by States and some indigenous
peoples (but no Maori groups to date).
[22/06/06] The
letter drafted to the NZ government by Moana Jackson
on behalf of the 60+ people who participated in the dDRIP seminar
on 17 June 2006 at Te Papa...
[22/06/06] The
statement made by the NZ Permanent Representative
to the UN at the newly established Human Rights Council...
[22/06/06] The
statement read by Victoria Corpuz, Chairman of the UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the opening of the UNPFII...
[22/06/06] NZ government
told to put up or shut up... click
here for more details.
[24/05/06] NZ, Australia
and US block dDRIP progress at the UN... click
here for more details.
[05/04/06] UN Special Rapporteur
releases report on New Zealand... click here for more details.
[23/03/06] Various perspectives
on whether Maori should support the revised Chair's text or not...
Link: Perspectives
[20/03/06] Chair's Revised
Text released. Download: Chair's
Text (MS Word)
[11/02/06] Claire Charters
in Geneva filed a report on what could possibly be the final
meeting to decide the text of the dDRIP. Download: Feb
Report (MS Word)
[11/02/06] Summary of Language
of Limitations in International Instruments prepared by Claire.
Download: Summary (MS
Word)
[11/02/06] International
Indian Treaty Council issue statement on dDRIP. Download:
IITC Statement (MS Word)
[03/02/06] MFAT release
NZ Govt Draft Report to the UN Committee for the Elimination
of Racism and Discrimination. Download: Draft
Report (MS Word) Notes (PDF)
[25/01/06] International
Treaty Tribes release a list of concerns with proposed changes
to the dDRIP. Download: IITC
Concerns & Considerations (MS Word) Treaty
Council News (PDF)
[18/01/06] Petition with
1,073 signatories delivered to NZ government requesting Maori
participation in NZ govt position on dDRIP. Download: Cover Letter (MS Word)
[12/01/06] American Indian
Law Alliance and Owe Aku of the Lakota Nation release report
on the December 05 Session of the dDRIP Working Group in Geneva.
Download: Report (MS Word)
[10/01/06] An online petition calling for more transparent participation in
establishing the NZ position on the dDRIP has reached 750 signatures
from Maori, Pakeha and indigenous leaders around the world.
[17/12/05] NZ government
considered 'hostile' toward Indigenous Peoples everywhere
// Criticism levelled by Amnesty International at the government's
'package' of suggested amendments to the draft United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, will
be an embarrassment for the Labour government coming so close
on the heals of the recent visit by the UN Special Rapporteur
on the Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples,
the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal in relation the Foreshore
and Seabed legislation and the UNCERD decision earlier this year
that also found the legislation discriminates against Maori >>>
more...
[16/12/05] Amnesty International
criticises NZ government position // A group of international
human rights organisations have joined indigenous peoples groups
and other countries in their opposition to the hostile position
taken by New Zealand, Australia and the United States at a UN
meeting on the rights of indigenous peoples. >>> more...
[16/12/05] Urgent Need to
Improve the U.N. Standard-Setting Process
Importance of Criteria of “Consistent with International
Law and its Progressive Development” >>> more...
|