The Tribunal has compared the articles of the Declaration alongside the texts and principles of Te Tiriti. In some instances, the Tribunal has considered that Crown obligations go beyond mere consultation with Māori and instead require consensus and consent. Further, the Tribunal has indicated that in some circumstances the decision-making power should rest ultimately with Māori. 36 The Declaration rights most relevant to Ihumātao This section sets out an overview of the rights contained in the Declaration that the Commission considers to be most relevant to Ihumātao. These rights are interrelated. The Right to Land The Declaration provides that indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources they have traditionally owned, occupied or used. 37 This includes a right to develop their lands. 38 It also protects the right to maintain and strengthen the distinctive spiritual relationship indigenous peoples have with lands, territories, waters, coastal seas and other resources and to uphold this for future generations.39 It is apparent that this is a fundamental concern for mana whenua at Ihumātao. These rights align with the Treaty principles of tino rangatiratanga - Māori selfdetermination and authority over their own taonga,40 and active protection where the Crown has a duty to actively protect Māori rights including regarding customary use of their lands. The Declaration specifically provides for a right to redress where lands have been confiscated from indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.41 In recent years, United Nations treaty bodies have focussed on this issue. For example, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on States “to recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their communal lands, territories and resources and, where they have been deprived of their lands and territories traditionally owned or otherwise inhabited or used without their free and informed consent, to take steps to return those lands and territories”.42 The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) has also emphasised that indigenous peoples whose land has been confiscated are entitled 12