143:4 – shame on us
New Zealand has joined with three other nations with significant indigenous populations (Canada, Australia, and Australia) to make a rather predicable but nonetheless outrageous decision to vote against the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
“The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a non-binding declaration upholding the human, land and resources rights of the world’s 370 million indigenous people, brushing off opposition from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
The vote in the assembly was 143 in favor and four against. Eleven countries, including Russia and Colombia, abstained.
The declaration, capping more than 20 years of debate at the United Nations, also recognizes the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and sets global human rights standards for them.
It states that native peoples have the right ”to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties“ concluded with states or their successors.” Click here for the full article
Helen Clark has said that what the UN agreement seeks is already present in our legal system – if that was the case, one would only assume there would be no harm in signing it!
New Zealand government apparently believes that the Declaration disadvantaged non-indigenous people and conflicts with the country’s laws. Well….erm…hello!…last time I looked the indigenous population were pretty damn well disadvantaged by the status quo. Seems to me that some major redressing of the balance is precisely what justice demands!
The real issue here would seem to be the apparent threat to the privilege of the majority. I’m not Maori – but I do know what it’s like to be marginalized and a minority in some ways – and I can’t help wonder how it must feel to reflect upon the time when Maori were the majority, how different it might have been….to have that freedom…that position…of what was lost…and what is sought. It makes me sick.
Seems to me this Government is hanging on by a thread, and while it thinks it needs to get the centre vote buy buying nurses and appealing to the moderate middle classes, the reality is that if it doesn’t get it’s act together and come up with some decent policies on public transport, child poverty reduction, and how it relates to Maori, to name but three that spring to mind, then it better be prepared for a spell out in the cold. It basically needs to shake off third term-itis, stop believing its own press, and wake up to reality for five minutes. It needs some imagination, and to be less enslaved by the systems it has created.
At this rate, John Key will smile his way to victory – because most voters perceive he has something to offer – and let’s face it, he does the cute thing quite well. Seems to me Key is seeking to give the Government just enough rope…
The Maori I speak with are really tired of this kind of inaction. We have a chance to make this a better and more just society…
Comments via Facebook