July 19, 2016
Iwi leaders unhappy at UN response
An independent working group of the national Iwi Chairs Forum says the government isn't doing enough to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Monitoring group chair Margaret Mutu says its latest report to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples highlighted the failings of the government to engage with Maori on local government, the Treaty claims settlement process and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
She says the UN Declaration affirms the right of Maori to engage in decisions that affect them, but New Zealand government has yet to seriously consider what this means.
Professor Mutu says the report was well received by the Mechanism, which includes five experts on indigenous peoples’ rights, as well as by indigenous peoples’ representatives and some states attending the mechanism's annul session in Geneva.
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