Human Rights Commission

Te Kahui Tika Tangata

On the Bright Side: Paenga Hihiko

Haratua / May 2007

Kia ora. Anei te mihi ö te Kaihautu Whakawhanaunga ä Iwi, mo ngä mahi nui, mahi whakamana i te tangata i roto i ngä kaupapa Whakawhanaunga ä Iwi i Aotearoa. Here are this month’s acknowledgments from the Race Relations Commissioner for positive contributions to race relations in New Zealand.

Kommikal, Christchurch

For rap entertainment at the Ka Mau Te Wehi launch, May 2007. Ka Mau Te Wehi (meaning awesome) is a great new multi-media te reo Māori resource package for years 7-8 in English-medium schools to support the new Māori language curriculum. It was launched by Māori Language Commission Chief Executive Huhana Rokx on 18 May at Titahi Bay Intermediate School. The launch also featured a kapa haka group from Mana College and Waiata from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o ngā Mokopuna. MC Kommikal (aka Brett Tamati-Elliffe) provided rap entertainment at the launch including a song on Ka Mau Te Wehi that he wrote especially for the occasion. Kommikal hosts the Kommikal Show on weekday afternoons from 4-8pm on Tahu FM, and has also hosted Kommikal’s Chronicles on Maori Television. The Ka Mau Te Wehi resource will be sent to all schools before the end of the second term.

NZ National Commission for UNESCO

For enabling the publication of Religious Diversity in New Zealand. The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO has funded the publication of 10,000 copies of the pocket sized booklet Religious Diversity in New Zealand for the NZ Diversity Action Programme. The booklet contains the text and further commentary on the Statement on Religious Diversity, with a preface by the Prime Minister and a foreword by the Chair of the NZ commission, Dame Silvia Cartwright. UNESCO internationally promotes intercultural and interfaith dialogue as one of its key priorities. Copies of the booklet are available free of charge by emailing nzdiversity@hrc.co.nz . Organisations and communities are being invited to discuss and endorse the Statement and to provide suggested improvements before a scheduled review in advance of the August 2009 Diversity Forum. The booklet can also be downloaded as a PDF here.

Ron Kjestrup, Christchurch

For promoting the voice of ethnic communities in Christchurch. Ron Kjestrup has been Station Manager of Plains FM in Christchurch for the last two years, and during that time has been a great contributor to the Christchurch community. Plains FM is part of a national network of Access community radio stations which provide facilities and support for community groups to make and broadcast their own programmes. Ron has made a major personal contribution in raising the profile and the audience of the station. He has also participated in a range of community activities, such as acting as MC of the Culture Galore festival which celebrates Race Relations Day, announcing at the Ethnic Soccer Festival, and interviewing community members for the recent Around the World in 30 Lounges exhibition. Ron leaves Plains FM at the end of May to take up a position in his home town of Nelson.

The Computers in Homes Project

For providing computers to Burmese refugee families, May 2007. The Computers In Homes project aims to support low income communities to use computer technology to strengthen their education. The project works via low decile schools to help families in greatest need to use the Internet, e-mail and basic computer skills in their daily lives to enhance their performance at school and at work. Training for parents is provided at their children's school. Once training is completed, a refurbished computer is provided for the family. Recently 16 Porirua-based Burmese refugee families completed the eight week computer course. All of the refugees had arrived in NZ within the last six months, and none owned a car, so a bus was chartered to ensure the computers and families (30 adults and 20 children) arrived safely at their homes. The computer skills they have gained, coupled with the computers they have been gifted, will enable them to integrate into NZ, as well as to maintain links with their extended families in Myanmar.

Waitakere City Council

For placing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in its Council Chambers Building, May 2007. Waitakere City has become the first Council in the country to place the full text of the United Nations UDHR (in both Māori and English) in its Council building, acknowledging the importance of human rights alongside the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is also prominently displayed. The text was unveiled on two large plaques at a citizenship ceremony in May. The UDHR was agreed almost 60 years ago, following the Second World War, and provides a common understanding of the rights and freedoms to which all people are entitled. Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan has challenged other councils to follow Waitakere’s example in promoting the importance of both the Treaty and the UDHR in local communities.

YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki, Auckland

For providing legal resources in a form accessible to migrants. YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki is a community law centre for children and young people. They offer free and confidential legal advice to anyone under 25 years of age. Because of a concern that young Asian students and migrants were unable to access information in a form they can understand, YouthLaw have started to develop a range of posters to accommodate their needs. Posters are now available in Chinese and Korean. There are currently two separate posters to increase awareness of NZ’s laws, and to provide contact details for YouthLaw. Visit YouthLaw’s website here.

Joan Buchanan, Orewa

For the Dr Lois Wilson tour, May 2007. The Very Rev, The Hon, Dr Lois Wilson is a Canadian champion of social justice and religious understanding who has devoted her life to public service and social change. Joan Buchanan, a Canadian born Buddhist and interfaith advocate, organised Dr Wilson’s tour, which saw her speak in Orewa, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Napier, Kapiti Coast, Christchurch and Dunedin on the subject of ‘When Freedoms Collide’. Dr Lois Wilson’s meetings were well attended throughout the country, with 350 people present at one of her earlier engagements at an intra-Christian panel discussion on the Statement on Religious Diversity in Auckland. All talks have been filmed and can be purchased from Joan Buchanan. You can contact Joan on 027 4853128.

Creative New Zealand, Auckland City Council and ASB Community Trust

For Asian Aucklanders and the Arts: Attitudes, attendance and participation in 2006, May 2007. Creative New Zealand, with the support of the Auckland City Council and the ASB Community Trust, commissioned Colmar Brunton to conduct a research project on how Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese communities in the Auckland region engage with the arts. The main focus of the research was to find out about Asian peoples’ attitudes to the arts; the arts events they attend; and the arts activities they take part in. The research was qualitative and consisted of interviews with sixteen families and nine artists. This allowed the stories of the participants to be told, rather than just focusing on numbers of people engaged in specific activities. That will be the subject of a national follow up survey to be conducted by Creative New Zealand in 2008. Some of the key themes that emerged from the research were that the arts are seen as a part of everyday life; the arts bring communities together and build bridges across cultures; artists can feel branded as ‘Asians’ even though they may have been born in NZ and see themselves as Kiwis. The full report can be downloaded from the Creative New Zealand website.

Fairfax Newspapers in Education

For Māori Focus Month, June 2007. June is Māori Focus Month for Fairfax Newspapers in Education (NiE), and this month the award-winning eight page mini newspapers will have a focus on food. The newspapers will be published in time for Matariki (16 June) and Māori Language Week (23-29 July). There are four newspapers, each aimed at a different level: Go Zone is for children aged 7-8 (published 19 June, entitled Kai); I-Site is for children aged 9-10 (published 5 June, entitled Hangi); Newslinks is for children aged 11-12 (published 12 June, entitled Matariki); and Zoned In is for children aged 13-14 (published 26 June, entitled Nga kai o te Moana). Fairfax Media NiE won the print media category at the 2006 Māori Language Week Awards for their Māori Focus Month mini newspapers, and also won the Panpa Young Readers Award. Posters, language cards and a marae booklet are also available. For information on ordering these great resources, phone 0800 849 971 or email nie@fairfaxnz.co.nz . For more information on Māori Language Week, including the Māori Language Week Awards, visit www.koreromaori.org.nz .

The Nelson New Hub Youth Centre

For the Cultural Awareness Project, 2007. This initiative is funded through the Global Education Fund and supported by the Global Education Centre. It aims to promote cultural diversity and to bring together different cultures, backgrounds and nationalities to break down barriers and stereotypes. The group includes youth from the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Russia, Germany, Poland, New Caledonia, Canada, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Tuvalu, Peru, and NZ. So far participants have completed some cultural awareness training, been youth ambassadors at Race Unity Day, produced and exhibited a photo exhibition on ‘The Changing Face of Nelson’, been welcomed onto the local marae with other new settlers to the area, been interviewed on the Assignment television programme about racism in the area, and have entered the Nelson Hiphop Champs, They believe that role-modeling getting on together will break down barriers and will help to decrease racist attitudes among their peers.

Christchurch Interfaith Council

For the formation of the council, April 2007. The first official Interfaith council for Christchurch was launched on April 26th with the Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan as the special guest. There were around 120 people who attended the launch at the Caledonian hall. The Christchurch Interfaith Council received messages of support from the Rt Hon Helen Clark which was read by Senior government whip, Tim Barnett and a message from Garry Moore, Mayor of Christchurch. The interim committee includes Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Baha'i members with the following selected interim executive: Chair: Dr David Coles, Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, Vice-Chair: Rafaa Antoun, Christian, Secretary: Isaac Freeman, Baha'i. Their first AGM will be held in August where the executive committee will be officailly elected by the whole council membership. Please contact Rafaa Antoun rafaaantoun@yahoo.co.nz for further information.

NZ Journalists Training Organisation

For the Reporting Diversity Forum, May 15 2007. The JTO, supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, Te Puni Kokiri and the Human Rights Commission, held a forum on reporting diversity in Wellington on May 15. The forum was attended by over 60 journalists, media executives, students and commentators, and was addressed by the Race Relations Commissioner, the JTO Executive Director and Professor Arlene Morgan, a specialist in race, ethnicity and the media from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York. Workshops then considered the question of diversity in the newsroom, workplace training and recruitment. The forum gave a strong mandate to the JTO to develop a Maori, Pacific and ethnic journalism recruitment strategy, a workplace training module, a media leadership engagement programme, and to scope a multicultural news service. Professor Morgan subsequently toured journalism schools throughout the country and attended AUT’s annual marae programme for journalism students at Hoani Waititi Marae in Waitakere City. More information on the forum and on Arlene Morgan is available in the diversity section of the JTO website here.

If you would like to nominate a person or an organisation for acknowledgment please email positive.contribution[at]hrc.co.nz with the details. For information about race relations visit the Human Rights Commission website www.hrc.co.nz .

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On The Bright Side is part of the Human Rights Commission’s contribution to the NZ Diversity Action Programme. For further details visit www.hrc.co.nz/diversity

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