Govt not honouring treaty in watered-down hate speech reform - Human Rights Commission

The Government is not honouring its Treaty of Waitangi obligations in its watered-down hate speech reform, the Human Rights Commission believes.

Justice Minister Kiri Allan recently announced the Government’s latest attempt at improving hate speech legislation, but it had been met with criticism from those who believed it had been watered down.

The reform had only expanded protections to religious groups and did not include women, disabled people and the rainbow community, as it had done initially when proposals spawned after the Royal Commission into the March 15 terror attack.

In a brief statement shortly after the changes were announced, the Human Rights Commission said it was “very disappointed” in Allan’s new proposal, claiming it failed to protect communities most vulnerable to harmful speech.

Today, chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt has stepped up his criticism, saying the Government was not honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) in its changes to hate speech reform.

“The Government has Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities to protect tangata whenua communities from harmful speech, including takatāpui Māori (LGBTQ+ Māori), tāngata whaikaha (disabled people) and wāhine,” he said.

“Recent incidents of violence and incitement to discriminate that have been aimed at LGBTQI+ people here in Aotearoa New Zealand should be compelling the Government to increase protection for them.

“The commission says protection should include speech that incites hostility and hatred based on disability, sexual orientation and gender – in addition to the existing protections for colour, race, ethnic or national origins. This would align with existing online harm and sentencing laws.”

Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt. Photo / Supplied

While he welcomed further protection of religious groups, he noted even members of those groups had expressed concern about the reform.

“Members of the Muslim community also expressed disappointment, despite being included in the new proposal,” Hunt said.

“They told the commission they did not want any other community to suffer what they have had to endure.”

Advocates for the disability community had said many in their community were seeing daily messages targeting them, which is “devaluing their lives,” according to Hunt.

Despite his call to expand protection, Hunt was adamant the threshold for comments to be considered hate speech should be high so as not to limit freedom of expression.

“The threshold should not be confused with widening the protection to include the most vulnerable groups – the scope,” he said.

In a statement to the Herald, Allan said she was working towards changes to protect communities not currently included in the reform.

“That’s why we’ve asked the Law Commission to conduct an independent and thorough review,” she said.

“I know how these communities can be affected, which is why we are continuing with this work.”

“This is not and never has been about the Government wanting to restrict free speech, rather it’s about us exploring how we can do more to protect communities.”