Post by Kiwi Frontline on Apr 18, 2019 10:39:33 GMT 12
IMPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Last month the Minister of Maori Development, Nania Mahuta, announced that the Government intended developing a national plan of action for implementing the highly controversial United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
This is the so-called ‘aspirational’ and ‘non-binding’ agreement that Helen Clark’s Labour Government had considered too radical to support, but that John Key’s National Government signed.
Given the importance of this announcement for the future, it’s worth reviewing the background in some detail.
At 4.45 am New Zealand time on the 20th of April 2010, the Minister of Maori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples announced to the United Nations in New York that New Zealand would support UNDRIP.
Later that day Prime Minister John Key announced to the New Zealand public – who had not been consulted – that the signing had taken place.
It had been a clandestine affair – no-one had been told that Dr Sharples was flying to New York with officials and selected media to sign the agreement. Those involved had been sworn to secrecy.
Supporting the Declaration was considered controversial because Helen Clark as Prime Minister had refused to sign on advice from Crown Law that it was fundamentally incompatible with New Zealand’s constitutional and legal arrangements.
At the time, New Zealand was one of only four countries that hadn’t signed – the others were Australia, Canada, and the United States, which also had in place substantial legislative frameworks associated with early inhabitants.
In her address to the United Nations on 13 September 2007, Rosemary Banks, New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, outlined why New Zealand could not sign the Declaration:........
Continue reading Dr Muriel Newman’s latest NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/implementing-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/#more-29058
Last month the Minister of Maori Development, Nania Mahuta, announced that the Government intended developing a national plan of action for implementing the highly controversial United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
This is the so-called ‘aspirational’ and ‘non-binding’ agreement that Helen Clark’s Labour Government had considered too radical to support, but that John Key’s National Government signed.
Given the importance of this announcement for the future, it’s worth reviewing the background in some detail.
At 4.45 am New Zealand time on the 20th of April 2010, the Minister of Maori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples announced to the United Nations in New York that New Zealand would support UNDRIP.
Later that day Prime Minister John Key announced to the New Zealand public – who had not been consulted – that the signing had taken place.
It had been a clandestine affair – no-one had been told that Dr Sharples was flying to New York with officials and selected media to sign the agreement. Those involved had been sworn to secrecy.
Supporting the Declaration was considered controversial because Helen Clark as Prime Minister had refused to sign on advice from Crown Law that it was fundamentally incompatible with New Zealand’s constitutional and legal arrangements.
At the time, New Zealand was one of only four countries that hadn’t signed – the others were Australia, Canada, and the United States, which also had in place substantial legislative frameworks associated with early inhabitants.
In her address to the United Nations on 13 September 2007, Rosemary Banks, New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, outlined why New Zealand could not sign the Declaration:........
Continue reading Dr Muriel Newman’s latest NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/implementing-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/#more-29058