UN foreshore report 'unbalanced'

Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen

The Government has slammed a special United Nations Human Rights Commission report on the situation of Maori in New Zealand as unbalanced and narrow and effectively accused it of interference.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen said the report by Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen "was an attempt to tell us how to manage our political system".

"That may be fine in countries without a proud democratic tradition but not in New Zealand, where we prefer to debate and find solutions to these issues ourselves."

The highly critical report comes as an embarrassment to a Government that has so wholeheartedly embraced the United Nations.

Professor Stavenhagen recommends that the Foreshore and Seabed Act be replaced or amended and that the Government engage in Treaty settlement negotiation with Maori "that would recognise the inherent rights of Maori in the foreshore and seabed, and establish regulatory mechanisms allowing for the free and full access by the general public to the country's beaches and coastal area without discrimination of any kind".

But Dr Cullen has seized on its further recommendations, such as entrenching the Treaty of Waitangi in law as a constitutional document and giving the Waitangi Tribunal binding powers of adjudication.

The report was sought by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights following the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.

The Maori Party, which was formed in opposition to the law, hailed it as an accurate portrayal of life for Maori.

"The Maori Party received this report with a heavy heart," said co-leader Tariana Turia. "It records for the world to see an appalling picture of 'bad news' about the way in which the Government has systematically ignored or neglected the position of Maori in this country."

The law abolished the right to claim customary title to the foreshore and seabed through the courts, with no possible redress except negotiations with the Government.

The author of the report, Mr Stavenhagen, is the Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedom of indigenous people.

He visited New Zealand in November and attended four hui as well as talking to a range of politicians and officials.

The report gives a historic overview of colonisation, of land rights issues, and attempts to address social disparities between Maori and non-Maori.

It finds that Maori have the perception that "all along they have been junior partners in the [treaty] relationship".

It says that was exemplified in complex land rights issues which led to "a latent crisis" that broke over the foreshore and seabed issue.

And it argues for a resumption of measures based on ethnicity "to strengthen the social economic and cultural rights of Maori".

Dr Cullen said the report was full of errors of fact and interpretation and "probably underlines the fact that the committee it comes from is being wrapped up and reformed".

Dr Cullen shepherded the contentious legislation through Parliament. It eventually passed with the support of New Zealand First, whose leader, Winston Peters, also slammed the report yesterday.

"It is sad that the unique and complex social reality in New Zealand, including the high proportion of intermarriage between Maori and other ethnicities, was ignored as a result of a rigid ideological approach far removed from the reality of most New Zealanders."

Dr Cullen and Prime Minister Helen Clark have known for two weeks that the report has been on the UNHRC website but said nothing.


IN A NUTSHELL: THE UN REPORT

The task

Rodolfo Stavenhagen, a Mexican professor, was asked by the United Nations Commission of Human Rights to visit New Zealand and report on the situation of indigenous people, including the implications of the Foreshore and Seabed Act. He visited last November and met politicians, Government departments, iwi groups and non-government organisations.


The conclusions:

"Having been dispossessed of most of their lands and resources by the Crown for the benefit of Pakeha, Maori had to accept sporadic and insufficient redress, only to be faced with accusations that they were receiving undue privileges, which left in their wake resentments on both sides about perceived social and racial tensions. The latent crisis broke over the controversy concerning the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, whereby the Crown extinguished all Maori extant [existing] rights to the foreshore and seabed in the name of the public interest and at the same time opened up the possibility for the recognition by the Government of customary use and practices through complicated and restrictive judicial and administrative procedures."


The recommendations:

* Repeal or amend the Foreshore and Seabed Act and start Treaty negotiations to recognise the inherent rights of Maori in the foreshore and seabed.
* Entrench the Treaty of Waitangi constitutionally to recognise Maori as having an alternative system of knowledge, philosophy and law.
* Entrench MMP to guarantee adequate Maori representation in Parliament and at regional and local level.
* Give the Waitangi Tribunal binding powers of adjudication.
* Permanently incorporate Maori sacred sites and other places of significance to Maori into national cultural heritage.
* Establish an independent commission to monitor media for balance and non-racist reporting and to suggest remedial action.

The responses

"It will be widely read and no doubt widely discussed and then nothing much will happen". - Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen.

"The Maori Party believes the report ... is a very accurate and balanced depiction of the reality for tangata whenua in this land." - Tariana Turia, co-leader Maori Party.