UN Waitangi recommendation based on
ignorance – academic
AUT principal Lecturer and Treaty of
Waitangi expert Dr. Paul Moon says that recommendation by UN
agent Rodolfo Stavenhagen that the Treaty of Waitangi be
entrenched in law is based on profound ignorance.
‘The
suggestion that the Treaty could become entrenched in law is
utterly ridiculous’, says Dr. Moon. ‘Treaties in the 1840s
were never intended to be laws, and the wording of the
Waitangi Treaty excludes any chance of it becoming a statute
because of the poorly-worded nature of its text. A
first-year law student could point that out to Mr.
Stavenhagen.
Dr. Moon, who is one of the foremost experts
on the formation of the Treaty of Waitangi, said the UN
representative’s suggestions regarding the Treaty are
alarming: ‘I have grave concerns about the credentials of
any so-called expert who can make such irrational
recommendations. He has demonstrated little knowledge about
New Zealand’s constitutional history, and even less
awareness of international
law’.
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