Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority and Te Kōhao Health Managing Director, Lady Tureiti Moxon has delivered an urgent request for intervention to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), warning that the New Zealand Government is creating a worsening pattern of systemic racism, constitutional overreach, and state-driven harm toward Māori.

“I brought this urgent complaint because, since late 2023, the Coalition Government has escalated discrimination against Māori, spread misinformation, and overridden Constitutional norms. These actions breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi, our founding agreement,” she said.

Her statement came during the first day of CERD’s civil society hearings in Geneva, where the Committee questions canvassed environmental deregulation, electoral reforms, political participation, prison policy, gang legislation, and the dismantling of Te Tiriti o Waitangi protections.

Lady Tureiti Moxon described an unprecedented period of regression in Aotearoa that is now driving real harm across Māori communities.

“Two harmful laws have passed in the last fortnight alone - the Regulatory Standards Bill which gives a single Minister power to review laws using standards that exclude Māori rights and Te Tiriti,” Moxon said.

“The Education and Training Amendment Bill which removes obligations for schools to honour Te Tiriti - 1,084 out of 2500 schools have publicly protested to date.”

Lady Tureiti set out how the Government has dismantled Māori protections in health, justice, social care, the environment, and political representation.

She detailed the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora - Māori Health Authority, the removal of targeted cancer screening programmes for Māori, and the reversal of world-leading smokefree laws despite Māori having the highest lung cancer rates globally.

She also raised the escalating harm by new boot camps for rangatahi, harsher sentencing regimes, cuts to cultural reports that help courts address racism, and the erosion of protections against what she described as “new Stolen Generations”.

CERD members asked questions on legislation, focussing on how the Government’s fast-track approvals, removal of Māori-designed freshwater protections, and encroachment on indigenous land and resources are occurring without meaningful consultation. Committee experts also sought clarification on how the Crown’s relationship with iwi, hapū, and Māori organisations has been altered and why Māori treaty protections are being weakened in environmental policy.

CERD further questioned on political participation, highlighting concerns about the Local Government Amendment Bill, the reinstatement of referenda on Māori wards, and the threat to Māori electoral representation. Members noted that these changes could significantly undermine Māori and Pacific participation in democratic life.

CERD members then focused on the prison population, the Government’s intention to reinstate a total ban on voting for anyone with a prison sentence, and the disproportionate Māori incarceration rate where Māori are 15 percent of the population but make up 45 percent of those convicted and 63 percent of incarcerated women.

CERD also examined the Gang Legislation Act, raising concerns about freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the discriminatory focus on Māori rather than white supremacist groups.

Lady Moxon confirmed that Māori leaders, land protectors, and advocates are facing rising threats and violence as the political climate deteriorates. She warned that racialised criminalisation, police expansion, and new search and seizure powers under gang legislation have created “police-state conditions” for many Māori whānau.

The Committee also raised further themes including the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and census data accuracy for Māori political rights, changes experts described as placing the future wellbeing of Māori at immediate risk.

Lady Tureiti urged CERD to take decisive action and invoke its Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures. She called for CERD to require urgent reporting from the New Zealand Government, conduct a follow-up visit within six months, and compel the State to halt discriminatory laws, misinformation, and constitutional overreach.

She said that Māori are facing “accelerating state-driven harm”, and that urgent action is needed now by the United Nations as international oversight is critical.

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