Northland Maori have taken their concerns directly to the ears of the United Nations, thanks to a visit from the UN special rapporteur on indigenous rights.
The visit by James Anaya follows the Government's signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples earlier this year, and a similar
visit five years ago which spawned a report criticising New Zealand's treatment of Maori - especially around the foreshore and seabed issue.
Dr Anaya spent four hours at Te Tii Marae, Waitangi, yesterday as part of a five-day tour of New Zealand.
He told a crowd of more than 200 that his powers were limited, but he wanted to hear the concerns of Maori and put them in a report for the UN.
Pita Tipene, of Te Kotahitanga o Nga Hapu Ngapuhi, told him the way the foreshore and seabed was being dealt with was a "stark illustration" of the way hapu were sidelined while their land was confiscated and polluted.
The proposed new law was just the old discriminatory one, re-packaged and renamed, he said.
Mr Tipene also criticised the Government for basing important decisions on closed-door negotiations with the Iwi Leaders Group, which he said did not represent Maori generally.
He asked Dr Anaya to call on the Government to give hapu more time to negotiate Treaty claims and hold off with settlement discussions until the Waitangi Tribunal had investigated their claims.
The hapu are currently involved in a hearing about the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Waitangi, but say they aren't getting enough time to put their case.
Marae elder Kingi Taurua told Dr Anaya that Maori were pinning their hopes on him, because they had nowhere else to turn.
He hoped the report, unlike the last one, would lead to real changes, otherwise the gathering was a waste of time.
James Anaya was previously a professor of human rights law in the US. He is of Native American, including Apache, descent.
