Current Issues in Race Relations

1. Current Issues in Race Relations Joris de Bres Race Relations Commissioner Centre for Public Law March 16, 2004

2. The State of the Nation • Most Important Problem (2003 average) • Race Relations / Maori issues: 12.5% • Health Care: 10.5% • Unemployment: 9.1% • Economy: 9.0% • Crime and Violence: 9.0% • Education: 5.8%

3. Speaking Out Against Race Relations Issues • Indians refused motel accommodation • Woman with moko banned from bar • Maori singer banned from cabaret • Paul Holmes on Kofi Annan • NZ First pamphlet • Detention of Ahmed Zaoui

4. Celebrating Our Diversity • Maori Language Week • Waitangi Day celebrations • Divali • Chinese Lantern Festival • Pasifika • Matariki • Multi-Ethnic Festivals

5. Perceived Discrimination • MOST DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN NEW ZEALAND • Which group of people do you think are generally most discriminated against in New Zealand? Unprompted first mention • Asians: 26.3% • Pakeha / Europeans: 14.1% • Maori: 6.5% • Recent immigrants: 4.9% • Ethnic minorities in general: 4.1% • Pacific peoples: 1.6%

6. Perceived Discrimination • PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION RANKINGS • I would like your opinion on discrimination against different groups in today’s society. Would you say there is a great deal of discrimination, some discrimination, only a little discrimination or none at all against the following? • A Great Deal or Some Discrimination • Asians: 78% • Recent immigrants: 72% • Refugees: 70% • Pacific peoples: 57% • Māori: 53%

7. Positive Developments • Language Line • Focus on settlement outcomes • Migrant resource centres • Refugee & migrant health initiatives • Police programmes for migrant communities • Poll Tax package

8. The Foreshore & Seabed • Harmonising different rights and interests • Negotiation with those whose rights are being modified or extinguished • Waitangi Tribunal Report • Select Committee process offers opportunity for dialogue with all parties

9. Other Issues • Place of the Treaty of Waitangi in contemporary governance and legislation • Special Measures to Achieve Equality • Race-Based versus Needs-Based

10. Issues Not In Contention • Continued state funding of Maori education initiatives • Settlement of historic Treaty claims • Funding of Maori health providers • Need to address socio-economic disparities

11. Racial Discrimination • “Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.”

12. Special Measures • Special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure such groups or individuals equal enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be deemed racial discrimination, provided, however, that such measures do not, as a consequence, lead to the maintenance of separate rights for different racial groups and that they shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved.

13. UN Committee on Racial Discrimination • Positive Findings: • Progress in the settlement of historical Treaty grievances • The Government’s acknowledgment of the disadvantaged position of minorities, particularly Maori, and the large number of initiatives, programmes and projects in the areas of health, education, employment, social welfare, housing, language and culture, and correctional services, designed to address the specific needs of Maori, Pacific Island people and persons from other groups such as refugees and ethnic minorities

14. UN Committee on Racial Discrimination • Positive Findings: • Policies and initiatives designed to improve the status and use of the Maori language, including the increased supply of services in the Maori language, including in education and state broadcasting • The Sentencing Act 2002 provision that where an offender commits an offence wholly or partly because of hostility towards a group of persons with common characteristics such as race or colour, this must be taken into account by the court in the sentencing process.

15. UN Committee on Racial Discrimination • Issues of Concern: • The continuing disadvantages that Maori, Pacific Island and other ethnic communities face in the enjoyment of social and economic rights, such as the rights to employment, housing, social welfare and health care • The low representation of Maori women in a number of key sectors and their particular vulnerability to domestic violence • The disproportionately high representation of Maori and Pacific Islanders in correctional facilities

16. UN Committee on Racial Discrimination • Issues of Concern: • The detention of asylum seekers • The narrow interpretation of the provision for special measures (affirmative action programmes) • The difficulty in instituting criminal proceedings against those accused of incitement to racial hatred

17. UN Committee on Racial Discrimination • Positive Findings: • The programme to ensure that all legislation, policy and administrative practices are consistent with the Human Rights Act • The amalgamation of the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Race Relations Conciliator • The introduction of amendments to the electoral roll system, in particular the Maori electoral option, and the consequent appreciable increase in Maori representation in Parliament

18. Durban Programme of Action • The development of the New Zealand Action Plan for Human Rights, including a Race Relations Action Plan • Public understanding of the Treaty, indigenous and human rights of Maori • The promotion of cultural diversity, and the human rights of migrants and ethnic minorities

19. Durban Programme of Action • The treatment of refugees and asylum seekers • Human rights and anti-racism education and training – in educational institutions, public agencies, workplaces, and for the general public

20. Durban Programme of Action • The development of comprehensive data, measures and outcome indicators and a co-ordinated programme of research to provide an ongoing framework for measuring the state of race relations in New Zealand • Equity in education, health, housing, justice, employment • Effective consultation with, and participation in decision making by Maori, Pacific Island and other ethnic groups

21. The Durban Programme of Action • Balanced representation of Maori, Pacific Island and other ethnic groups in the media, and effective measures to combat hate speech and racist information on the internet • Advocacy for, and participation in international measures in support of the Durban Programme of Action

22. The Treaty of Waitangi • Uniquely New Zealand document • Two parties: Maori and the Crown • Not a race relations document • Both parties remain in existence today • Seen as document of fundamental constitutional importance

23. The Treaty of Waitangi • Requires relationship to be of the “utmost good faith” • Duty to consult • Active protection of linguistic, cultural and physical inheritance • Both parties should accommodate each other’s interests • All New Zealanders derive rights from the Treaty

24. The Treaty of Waitangi • Is it Discriminatory? • “Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life”

25. The Treaty of Waitangi • Maori seats in central and local government do not contravene the principle of one person one vote • The Treaty for Maori is about the right to be Maori – and to keep their property, their tikanga and respect for their way of life

26. The Treaty of Waitangi • Human Rights Commission community dialogue on Human Rights and the Treaty:Te Mana I Waitangi (see www.hrc.co.nz) • Some form of Commission of Enquiry is a sensible proposal • Even if there was no Treaty, international standards for the rights of indigenous peoples would still apply

27. Special Measures • “Race-based” measures to achieve equality are permissable (and required) under the International Convention • Provision exists in the Human Rights Act and the NZ Bill of Rights Act • Complaints can be made to the Human Rights Commission and to the Human Rights Review Tribunal

28. Special Measures • Required to be appropriate and temporary • Need to be well founded, explained, reviewed and evaluated • Shortage of research • Long time frames mean evaluation against outcomes can be difficult

29. Separate or Together? • What is the overall trend? • Intermarriage • Greater social interaction • Celebrating cultural diversity • Increasingly multicultural schools • Pride in our diverse heritage • Diversity in arts, sports, communities • Robust cultural community organisations

30. Waitangi Day • Unfortunate fracas at Waitangi • Contrast with celebrations and commemorations around the country

31. Quality of the Debate • Unnecessary name-calling, labeling and stereotyping • Complaints made to HRC, but have to be weighed against freedom of expression • Debate should be well-informed and characterised by mutual respect

32. The Future of the Debate? • Important to continue debate • Need to focus on positive solutions for harmonious relations • How can we address the issues raised by the United Nations? • What will we include in our next report to the United Nations?

33. Race Relations DayMarch 21