UN report sounds alarm over Māori rights in New Zealand

A United Nations committee has warned New Zealand is at serious risk of weakening Māori rights and entrenching disparities for the Indigenous population, in its most critical review of the country’s record on racial discrimination.Last month, the UN’s committee for the convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD) examined New Zealand’s record as part of its eight year review cycle for signatories to the convention.Its 14-page report, released on 5 December, expressed concerns over multiple government policies affecting Māori, including the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, cuts to public funding for Māori services and minimising the role of the Treaty of Waitangi – the country’s founding document that is instrumental in upholding Māori rights – in schools and governance arrangements.The committee said it was concerned some of the government’s policies - including scrapping the Māori health authority and budget cuts to Māori departments - “may seriously risk weakening the legal, institutional and policy framework for the implementation” of the racial discrimination convention.Prominent Māori leader, Lady Tureiti Moxon, who presented a complaint over the government’s policies to the committee in Geneva, said the review was “unprecedented in both its length and its language”.“CERD is clear: New Zealand is moving backwards on racial equality, and Māori rights are under serious threat,” Moxon said.“This is the strongest critique of New Zealand CERD has ever issued. Unlike the 2017 review, which acknowledged progress, this report finds virtually no positive steps on Māori rights or racial equity,” she said.The committee raised concerns about persistent disparities for Māori, including in education, housing, health, and opportunities for Māori to participate in political and public life.“Additionally, the committee is concerned about the misrepresentation of affirmative action to address structural discrimination as “racial privilege” and “at odds with universal human rights” by some political and public figures,” the report said.It warned Māori political expression in parliament was “disproportionately scrutinised and sanctioned”, said recent law changes risked “significantly curtailing statutory protections of Māori land rights”. The report called on the government to strengthen the revitalisation of the Māori language.Additionally, the government’s moves to remove treaty clauses in legislation could “risk entrenching historical, structural, and systemic discrimination against Māori,” the report said.The committee requested the government report back on “concrete measures taken” to implement its recommendations, particularly around environmental protection, the over-representation of Māori in the justice system and strengthening Māori land rights.In a statement, the minister for Māori Crown relations, Tama Pokata, said he had not read the report yet, but the government was committed to improving quality of life and equity for Māori.Pokata said the review was one of a number of sources with “useful insights on issues of considerable importance in New Zealand” that were “longstanding and complex”.The coalition, made up of the centre-right National party and its minor coalition partners – the libertarian Act and populist NZ First parties – has said it wants to end “race-based policies”. Since taking office in 2023, it has ushered in sweeping reforms to policies affecting Māori.It has slashed obligations on schools and public services to take into consideration the treaty, and allowed a highly-controversial bill that sought to radically alter the way the treaty is interpreted, to be introduced to parliament. The bill was voted down at its second reading.