Human Rights Commission

Media Release

8 November 2007

Race Relations Commissioner welcomes Parliament’s Decision Not to Proceed with Treaty Principles Deletion Bill

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres today welcomed Parliament’s decision last night not to proceed with the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill.

Together with the inclusion of the Treaty of Waitangi in the new school curriculum released on Tuesday, this means that two of the four urgent matters raised by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in August have now been fully addressed.

A third, relating to access to schooling for children whose parents’ immigration status is not legitimised, will also be addressed through the Immigration Bill currently before Parliament.

The fourth urgent matter raised by the UN Committee was a call for renewed dialogue between the Crown and Maori about the Foreshore and Seabed Act.  Mr de Bres said that this remained an important issue, and it would be good if some steps were able to be taken to resume a dialogue on this topic before New Zealand was required to report back to the United Nations in August next year.

In the meantime Mr de Bres said it was positive to see the other issues addressed and he would be reporting to the CERD Committee this week accordingly. He would continue to monitor progress on the other recommendations made by the Committee as well and was hopeful of further progress.

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