Start Working With Youth Workers

In response to the surprise announcement yesterday that the government will support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a youth worker who helped write a national code of ethics for the youth sector says he hopes the Ministry of Youth Development will start working with youth workers instead of against them.

In 2008 Manu Caddie wrote a section of the 'Code of Ethics for Youth Work in New Zealand' that was censored by the office of then Minister of Youth Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta.

"At the eleventh hour officials from the Ministry of Youth Development told us that the Minister would not launch the document at a national youth conference as planned nor would the Ministry cover the printing costs if we insisted on including a reference that acknowledged the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We were shocked and angry but anticipation from the sector was so high we didn't want to throw it all away so the offending text was pulled at the last minute."

The edited version of the Code of Ethics was subsequently launched and has since been widely used in youth work services around the country.

"We hope this change in the government position on the UNDRIP means the original text can be included in the second edition of the Code of Ethics that the National Youth Workers Network Aotearoa have started work on.

What really surprises us are suggestions that since the Ministry stopped funding the NYWNA last year, they have established their own working group with plans to rewrite the Code of Ethics for youth work without involving the organisation that represents the sector" said Mr Caddie who is based in Gisborne and works for a local youth and community development organisation.

"Given the wide range of initiatives being designed in Wellington to meet the needs of the revised youth offending legislation you would think there might be someone in MYD who would think working with NYWNA was a better idea than trying to shut them down."

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