2nd Technical Workshop on the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the Victoria Law Lecture Theatre - 1 & 2 August 2003 // Facilitated by Aroha Te Pareake Mead & Ngatata Love

Below is the Table of Contents & Introduction of the Report [its over 70 pages long with appendices]. Click here for the Communique arising from the workshop. Copies of the full report may be requested by contacting Aroha Te Pareake Mead. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. SESSION ONE: The current text of the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Aroha Te Pareake Mead, Victoria School of Management 3. SESSION TWO: The Relevance of the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to New Zealand Joris de Bres, Race Relations Commissioner & Prof. Ngatata Love, Victoria School of Management 4. SESSION THREE: UN Mechanisms & Indigenous Peoples Kerensa Johnston, Auckland University Law & Claire Charters, VUW Law. + Presentation by Te Kohanga Reo National Trust to the 2nd UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Kathie Irwin, Te Kohanga Reo National Trust 5. SESSION FOUR: Presentation of officials’ working text for a proposed New Zealand position and approach to the draft Declaration Clive Pearson, Human Rights Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade. + An Analysis of the Amendments Proposed by MFAT to the UN draft Declaration Moana Jackson, Maori Law Commission. 6. SESSION FIVE 7. SESSION SIX 8. APPENDICES Appendix A: The draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Appendix B: National Business Review, Phillips-Fox Poll on NZ Race Relations and Attitudes towards the Treaty of Waitangi, July 2003 Appendix C: International Law, Indigenous Peoples & The Struggle for Human Rights - Kerensa Johnston Appendix D - The Revivial of Indigenous Languages: Maori Language Nests in NZ – Te Kohanga Reo, 1982 – 2003, presented to the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - Kathie Irwin, Titoki Black, Phillip Marshall Appendix E: “Working Text” 2003 of NZ Government Officials 1. INTRODUCTION In an early commemoration of the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August, Prof. Ngatata Love and Aroha Te Pareake Mead of the Victoria School of Management, convened the 2nd Technical Workshop on the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the Victoria Law Lecture Theatre on 1 & 2 August 2003.[i] The Workshop had six objectives, these being to: · commemorate the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August · acknowledge the imminent conclusion of the International Decade for the World’s Indigenous Peoples · provide an opportunity for attendees of the 2nd Meeting of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to report back on their impressions and recommendations · receive a ‘working text’ of government officials on a possible revised NZ position on the draft Declaration · have an opportunity to discuss initial reactions to the ‘working text’ by Maori participants with the benefit of the participation of Crown officials able to clarify the intent of any suggested amendments · discuss a strategy for Maori engagement in the future progression of the draft Declaration on the Rights on Indigenous Peoples. This is the Report of the 2nd Technical Workshop. It includes some of the presentations and documents tabled at the meeting. It also includes additional information and comments not presented to the meeting. This should not be read as a stand-alone document. There is a considerable body of past and current material on the draft Declaration and on Maori involvement in negotiations, as well as Maori analysis, of the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Attendees at the Workshop included Maori who have followed the progress of the draft Declaration either as direct participants in the negotiations, such as Moana Jackson, Aroha Mead, Tracey Whare, or because they have participated in other UN standard-setting fora, and/or because they have an interest. Many others who wanted to attend but couldn’t because of other commitments, tendered their apologies for the Workshop but reaffirmed their wish to remain informed and included. Officials from the government agencies who have a direct role in developing and promoting New Zealand’s position on the draft Declaration also attended, including Dr John Tamahori, Policy Principal of Te Puni Kokiri, Clive Pearson, Director of the Human Rights Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade and Claire Gwyn, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Justice.[ii] The Context of Maori Involvement in the draft Declaration There have been numerous meetings held in past years amongst Maori or between Maori and the Crown to discuss the draft Declaration. The first meeting that I can recall was held at Tahuna Marae in Waiuku in October 1988. It was funded by the Department of Justice and the Human Rights Commission, hosted by Ngati Te Ata and organized by Nganeko Minhinnick and Aroha Mead after our return from attending the 6th session of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations [WGIP] in Geneva. Representatives from Ngati Awa, Tainui, Ngati Raukawa, Ngapuhi, Ngati Whatua, Te Mahurehure, Whakatohea, Ngati Porou and Ngati Te Ata attended.[iii] There were regular reports and presentations on the relevance of the draft Declaration to Maori provided to meetings of the National Maori Congress, during the period 1990 through to 1994. Maori who attended UN-WGIP sessions between 1988 and 1993 also provided reports to their respective hapu and Iwi. The involvement of Maori in the original negotiation of the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was substantial both in contribution to the current text and to the process as a whole. In making this statement I am not suggesting that the contribution of Maori was more than any other indigenous peoples – far from it. There are others who were there from day one in 1985 [and before], who have remained active in the process each and every year, and who are still there now, 18 years later. Maori have not demonstrated the same engagement in the journey of the draft Declaration through the UN system as other indigenous peoples have done. We should be quite realistic and be humble on this point. Notwithstanding that, there is still cause for acknowledgement of the value of the contribution Maori did make to the development of the draft Declaration. But the draft Declaration is at a critical stage in its life. There are two sessions only remaining that the UN has committed time and resources to finalizing the draft Declaration. In 1994, the Convenor of the Maori Congress, Te Atawhai Archie Tairoa, together with others including Moana Jackson, attended the first meeting of the Intersessional Working Group tasked with finalizing the draft Declaration. At that meeting, Maori joined with many other indigenous peoples, in a passive protest at the suggestion by some states that the Draft Declaration should be opened for complete renegotiation. The view of indigenous participants at that time was that the draft Declaration was the effort of thousands of indigenous participants and of many states. The text was negotiated amongst indigenous peoples and between indigenous peoples and states and that any amendments should be minimal rather than substantive. In 1994, indigenous participants also indicated that one right above any and all others had to be recognized within the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – that right being the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. The form of passive protest taken was to ‘walk away from the negotiations’. Maori have never been back as a full delegation mandated by a wider collective than a community or a network ever since 1994. Three Maori have attended subsequent meetings of the Intersessional Working Group – Tauni Sinclair, Moana Sinclair and Tracey Whare. They have kept the presence of Maori alive within these sessions and their efforts deserve acknowledgement and thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [i] Refer Appendix A for a copy of Agenda for the 2nd Technical Workshop [ii] Refer Appendix B for a List of Participants at the 2nd Technical Workshop [iii] Report to Te Runanga O Ngati Awa, on the 8th Session of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, 23 July – 3 August 1990, Aroha Te Pareake Mead, page 16