Well yesterday we had the UN envoy's report on alleged human rights violations by the New Zealand Government against Maori, particularly in relation to the Foreshore and Seabed Act. The envoy, Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen, recommended a large number of things including:
This report is fairly embarassing for the government, but really, it's not like the United Nations really does much with human rights properly. They are somehow able to send an envoy here to check out human rights issues in New Zealand, but don't bother sending anyone to China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, etc. all of which with much more serious problems.
I disagree with the Foreshore and Seabed Act, and think that this should have been left to the Courts (or appealed to the Privy Council), as the Court of Appeal did state that it was extremely unlikely that Maori did own any of the foreshore and seabed. They simply said that they had the right to test those claims in court.free unlock program
- Repeal the Act (I actually agree with that one).
- Entrench the Treaty of Waitangi.
- Entrench MMP.
- Give the Waitangi Tribunal binding powers.
- Establish an indepdent commission to monitor biased reporting
- And others...
This report is fairly embarassing for the government, but really, it's not like the United Nations really does much with human rights properly. They are somehow able to send an envoy here to check out human rights issues in New Zealand, but don't bother sending anyone to China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, etc. all of which with much more serious problems.
I disagree with the Foreshore and Seabed Act, and think that this should have been left to the Courts (or appealed to the Privy Council), as the Court of Appeal did state that it was extremely unlikely that Maori did own any of the foreshore and seabed. They simply said that they had the right to test those claims in court.free unlock program
Trackbacks
TrackBack URL for this entry:
free unlock program