Human Rights Commission
Media release
13 August 2009
 
Diversity comes alive at New Zealand’s annual forum
 

Sport, cooking, music, writing workshops, international student safety, marketing to Asian communities and diversity in the workplace are just some of the forums and events at the annual Diversity Forum in Wellington next week, 22-24 August.

The 2009 Media Diversity Awards will be launched at the Media Forum on Monday 24 August, and the Governor-General, Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, will present the annual Diversity Awards after a reception at the Icon Restaurant, Te Papa.

TV Personality Pio Terei will MC the evening and guests will be welcomed by Her Worship the Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast.

Recent racist attacks on Indian students in Melbourne have highlighted the need to protect international students from racial harassment and abuse. The forum on international student safety features Christchurch and Nelson initiatives and Dr Helen Szoke, from Melbourne. Dr Szoke is the Chief Conciliator and Chief Executive Officer of the Victoria Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Dr Szoke will also join the plenary session on Monday 24 August as the keynote speaker.

Ethnic Affairs Minister Pansy Wong will lead off a plenary discussion on issues facing Asian communities in New Zealand. She will be joined by Asian journalists Dev Nadkarni (Indian Weekender), Dorathy Li (Skykiwi), Lincoln Tan (NZ Herald) and new MPs Raymond Guo and Rajen Prasad.

What is it like being disabled and having a different culture? Disabled people, their friends and whanau share stories and talk about what really matters to them at the Giving Words Meaning event. Barbel Winter, of CCS Disability Action, heads up a second disability forum to discusses issues with disability services in New Zealand – from tips and guidance to cultural assumptions.

Religious diversity in the workplace is the theme for the Religious Diversity Forum this year. The second edition of the Religious Diversity Statement will be launched, along with new guidelines on religion in schools.

Oceania Football will be at the Sport and Diversity Forum, looking at links between global football in New Zealand and football in the Pacific. Speakers include SPARC, Outward Bound and sports lecturer Dr Farah Palmer, from Massey University.

Jennifer Janif speaks at the Muslim women’s rights forum, Musawah. She will outline information on the Musawah movement and the Sisters in Islam forum held in Malaysia this month. Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan, FIANZ Chief Executive Sultan Eusoff and refugee health worker Koos Ali will also speak.
 
Minister of Justice Hon Simon Power, Rosslyn Noonan, Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres, Children’s Commissioner John Angus and Ministry of Justice Human Rights Policy Manager Stuart Beresford look at international accountability for New Zealand's human rights and race relations. In May, members of the Human Rights Council made a number of recommendations and New Zealand’s response to these will be tabled at the next meeting of the Council in Geneva in September.

ends
 

© Scoop Media