August 28, 2023
No walking from UNDRIP
One of the authors of the He Puapua report on how New Zealand should implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says there’s no exit option.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has pledged to take New Zealand out of the declaration, calling it divisive.
But Wharehuia Bill Hamilton says we’re stuck with the decision made in 2010 by the National Government to keep its Maori Party coalition partner on side.
“The only thing we can do is what Chris Finlayson and John Key said, which is of course we support it but we’re not going to do anything with it. If he says we’re not going to do anything with it, he can say that, but it doesn’t stop Māori from doing something with it,” he says.
The declaration sets out the minimum standards for the survival, dignity, wellbeing, and rights of iwi taketake around the world.