IDEAS FOR TAUTOKO/ACTION/SUPPORT 1. Based on the information referred to on this website and other sources, iwi, hapu, Maori organisations and individuals should decide which position they support and how they can contribute to seeing the kaupapa progress.
2. Call the Human Rights Commission and advise that you are unhappy with the NZ government position on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That the government has not consulted with maori in the last five years even though they have tabled numerous amendments in the interim and that calls by maori for consultation have been rejected. If the Commission receives enough calls then they can use that as a mandate to take the matter further with the govt.
3. Email the government official who advises the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding the Declaration and Indigenous Peoples Rights. Make the same points as set out above. Also ask that the NZ govt refrain from blocking any further consensus/discussion on the Declaration. Ensure that in your email you ask him to respond to your email.
4. Letters from organisations and individuals/whanau can be sent to Winston Peters Minister of Foreign Affairs and Parekura Horomia, Minister of Maori Affairs. Given the political uncertanity NZ has been involved in leading up to and post election - who mandated MFAT to make the statements in October 2005? Cabinet hadn't even met. Did the new Minister of Foreign Affairs sign-off this change in position? Why did government change its position without informing Maori nationally?
5. Write to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and ask him to support the dDRIP as a Universal Declaration for all Indigenous Peoples worldwide. The dDRIP is not only about Maori and the Crown - it is an instrument that can greatly improve the human rights and lives of indigenous peoples right across the globe who are living in situations of war and terrorism, extreme poverty, environmental degradation, isolation and marginalisation.6. Publically challenge MFAT as being disconnected from reality, New Zealanders in general and Maori in particular, and inept/incapable of articulating the complexity of NZ's approach to Maori development/Treaty issues, and/or send letters to the Editor of newspapers, MP's articulating these concerns.
6. Write to all MP's, particulalry Maori MPs, across all political parties, and ask them to indicate their support for the dDRIP by having their name posted on this website.
7. Inform your friends, whanau and the wider community about this important issue that will affect generations to come and is drifting by without any significant public debate or consultation. Read more about it, write letters to your local newspaper and talk to others to find out more.
