December 10, 2018
Indigenous rangatahi stand up for climate rules rights
Seven Māori and Pasifika rangatahi are helping to put an indigenous perspective into the deliberations of this week's COP24 United Nations Climate Change Talks in Katowice, Poland.
Te Ara Whatu youth delegation Kahu Kutia says the purpose of the conference is to finalise the wording of the Paris Rulebook, which will inform global climate change action for countries over the next few years.
She says the indigenous delegates are able to bring a unique perspective to the hui, but they are being made aware they are operating within what is often a colonial space.
" At one point they were thinking of keeping human rights and indigenous rights out of it. Some countries said it wasn't relevant. Our mahi was to be like 'hey, if you are making a climate change plan, you need to make sure you recognise human rights, and especially indigenous rights, women's rights, young people's rights, people with disabilities' rights,' so we have been pushing that," Ms Kutia says.
She says Te Ara Whatu was proud to sing a waiata tautoko for Canadian Elders Council member Francois Paulette, who opened the conference on behalf of first nations peoples.
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