APPENDIX 2
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
EXPERT MECHANISM ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES
FIFTH SESSION, JULY 9 – 13, 2012, GENEVA
E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga maunga, e nga awaawa, e nga pataka o nga
taonga tuku iho, tena koutou katoa
[Translation: to all expert colleagues, all voices, the mountains, the rivers, the
treasure houses, greetings to all of you.]
Mr Chairperson, thank you for this opportunity to speak as the Commissioner
Representative of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission on Item 5 of the
agenda.
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
A culture’s visual and verbal language embodies the history, values and traditions
of a people. Language binds people together and with their environment. It
enables the transfer of the culture from one generation to the next. It is the
expression of individual and collective identity, of a distinctive worldview. It is a
means of survival.
Maori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840 is regarded as New Zealand’s founding
document, an agreement made between the Crown (which in practical terms
means the government) and rangatira, the leaders of Maori.
Since that signing, New Zealand’s history has been marked by wideranging failure
to honour the founding promises.
However, in 1975, the Waitangi Tribunal was established as a permanent
commission of inquiry, to investigate and make nonbinding recommendations
about breaches of the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi.
21 years ago, a “claim” was made by 6 iwi (tribes) to the Waitangi Tribunal about
the preservation of matauranga – the unique Maori way of viewing the world.
This claim, known as Wai 262, asked who owns or controls the practice of Maori
culture and language, identity and traditional knowledge in contemporary New
Zealand law, and government policy and practice.
In July 2011, the Wai 262 report, known as “Ko Aotearoa Tēnei” (This is
Aotearoa) was finally published.
The Tribunal’s 1000 page report included government and private sector activity
from genetic modification to bio-prospecting, intellectual property rights, Māori
healing systems and the Māori language. The Tribunal’s recommendations are
wide-ranging and detailed though non- binding, and seek to express a Treaty
partnership in which Māori have a meaningful voice.To date the New Zealand
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Government has not responded to the report but advises that it is currently
working towards this.
The report makes specific recommendations relating to te reo Maori (the Māori
language). Contemporary institutions including Māori educational institutions and
Māori radio and television contribute to the revitalisation of Maori language and
culture today. However,currently there is a real fear for the survival of te reo
Maori. There is a decline in Maori children attending Kohanga Reo, which are preschools that teach Maori language and culture to children and their parents.
The New Zealand government has acted positively in many ways but the type of
support and adequacy of funding for language initiatives has not always been
appropriate or secure. As the Wai 262 report notes ‘there has been a failure of
partnership, with Maori lacking meaningful input into (let alone control of) the key
decisions being made about their own language”.
Teachers are also now more likely to be second language learners rather than
natural speakers with a diversity of tribal dialects. Preservation of distinctly Maori
language and culture requires preservation of the diversity between Maori.
Significantly, this year the Tribunal has held an urgent inquiry into a Kōhanga
Reo movement claim of discrimination by the Ministry of Education because the
pedagogy used for teaching Māori children is not recognised and protocols not
consistent with the purpose of Kohanga Reo are being imposed. Elders are not
formally recognised as teachers so they are not funded as mainstream teachers
are. If discrimination of this kind is confirmed, it would be a breach of the minimum
standards expressed in Article 14 of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples.
As a National Human Rights Institution, the New Zealand Human Rights
Commission pursues its responsibility under the Treaty of Waitangi and
international law to protect and promote te reo Maori.
As noted in the Commission’s submission in February 2012 to this expert
mechanism, the Commission has worked actively for the past decade with the
relevant government agencies on the promotion and recognition of te reo Maori.
In 2007, the Human Rights Commission published a statement on language policy
that called for a national languages policy and specific strategies for te reo Maori.
This call was renewed in the Commission’s review of human rights in 2010.
So let me finish by quoting from “Ko Aotearoa Tēnei”. “Te Reo Māori ... is the
platform upon which mātauranga Māori stands, and the means by which Māori
culture and identity are expressed. Without it, that identity – indeed the very
existence of Māori as a distinct people – would be compromised.”
Thank you for your attention, sisters and brothers.
No reira, tena koutou katoa [And finally, greetings to you all]
Commissioner Karen Johansen,
New Zealand Human Rights Commission
July 2012
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