The National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR), prepared by the special task force set up by the Race Relations Commission under the mandate of the Human Rights Commission, which addresses all forms of racial discrimination in Aotearoa, was submitted to the Ministry of Justice on February 3.
The task force was formed in December 2020.
Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner, led the project.
Tina Ngata was the co-chair of the anti-racism task force.
Establishing a Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Commission and recognising Maori tino rangatiratanga (self- determination) were among the recommendations contained in two key reports: Ki te whaiao (breath of life), ki te ao Marama (light of dawn), a community engagement report for developing the NAPAR, and Maranga Mai! (Rise Up), a report about the impact of colonisation on tangata whenua (people of the land).
Maranga Mai! documents the impact of “colonisation, racism and white supremacy” on Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand, following their first contact with Europeans. The report has been compiled by the Indigenous Rights Group within the Commission and the tangata whenua within the framework of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi). It traces the history of racism experienced by Maori in Aotearoa.
The report says that since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, tangata whenua have endured more than 180 years of colonisation, racism and white supremacy, “often enforced by the rule of law, unjust legislation, and government sanctioned violence.”
As a result, Maori have been marginalised and impoverished for generations, the report notes.
It points out that racism against Maori and other communities have had a severe, lasting impact.
Maranga Mai! acknowledges that “many other peoples and cultures also experience racism in Aotearoa,” including Chinese, Indian, Pacific and African people, as well as the members of Asian, Jewish and Islamic communities. Migrant communities often come from lands with “parallel histories” of colonisation and racism, such as North America, Ireland and India, the report says.
The authors believe that addressing racism against Maori is central to addressing racism against all other cultures in Aotearoa.
Maranga Mai! combines “evidence-based literature and research” with first-person testimony by experts. It taps into the cumulative experience and memories of Maori. Prominent Maori scholars and activists were interviewed, including Prof Linda Tuhiwai Smith, chair Tina Ngata, Hilda Halkyard- Harawira, Dr Rawiri Taonui and Kingi Snelgar, and the late Dr Moana Jackson. The report also relies on the oral testimony of Maori elders.
The report targets politicians, central and local government, public sector officials and policy makers.
It notes that the “denial of racism in Aotearoa is a long-standing legacy that many governments and the settler society, over successive generations, have refused to accept.”
The report tasks the government with committing to “constitutional transformation and establishing co-governance.”
It urges the government to reject the Doctrine of Discovery (the founding principle of colonisation) and to commit to the Treaty of Waitangi and the Declaration of Independence (1835) as the “source of legitimacy” for kawanatanga (sovereignty).
The report quotes the Matike Mai Aotearoa report on constitutional transformation, which says: “Te tiriti never intended us to be “one people” as Governor Hobson proclaimed in 1840, but it did envisage a constitutional relationship where everyone could have a place in this land (Independent Working Group on Constitutional Transformation, 2018 , page 112).”
The Treaty of Waitangi established a partnership between the tino rangatiratanga of Maori and the kawanatanga of the Crown, the report says.
It recommends that tino rangatiratanga be recognised and restored as the “pre-existing and ongoing form of Maori indigenous authority and self-determination,” under the Treaty of Waitangi as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP,2007).
The report also recommends the establishing of a three-year Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Commission as the first step towards constitutional reform. Setting up the Commission was essential for understanding the injustices perpetrated against Maori by the Crown, as well as to foster healing and reconciliation between Maori and the government, and the “Tiriti peoples.”
In addition, the report recommends the urgent appointment of a full-time, permanent, Indigenous Rights Commissioner with a view to assisting the Human Rights Commission in upholding the indigenous rights of Maori, and to honour the Treaty of Waitangi.
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