Executive Summary New Zealand has an obligation to to take all available measures to identify, prevent and respond effectively to violence and abuse of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori. Yet these groups are at particular risk and face entrenched barriers to their safety and wellbeing. This report sits alongside its companion report, Whakamahia te tūkino kore ināianei, ā muri ake nei: Acting now for a violence and abuse free future. Together both set out an evidence base of the disproportionate burden of violence and abuse experienced by disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori and draw attention to this longstanding, and yet still largely hidden, issue. Both reports call for urgent and ongoing action to address barriers to safety for tāngata whaikaha, who like all people in Aotearoa have a right to be safe from violence and abuse. This report reflects a Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based approach, with a specific focus on issues for tāngata whaikaha Māori, their whānau and communities. Tāngata whaikaha Māori Tāngata whaikaha Māori have diverse identities and experiences, but as tangata whenua they share an inherent connection through whakapapa to whānau, hapū and iwi as well as to whenua, maunga, awa and taiao. Māori concepts and realities of disability are diverse, but have not been reflected in prevailing models, which frame disability within an individual, rather than collective context. Tāngata whaikaha Māori are guaranteed rights under Te Tiriti and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), as well as other human rights instruments. The full array of these rights has not yet been realised in Aotearoa New Zealand, with tāngata whaikaha Māori facing multiple barriers and the cumulative effect of intersecting inequities. Intersecting disadvantages amplify the risks of violence and abuse for tāngata whaikaha Māori The disadvantages experienced by tāngata whaikaha Māori as Māori disabled persons is compounded by the structural and institutional disadvantage they face as tangata whenua. Despite a higher prevalence of disability, tāngata whaikaha Māori have higher proportions of unmet need and greater barriers to accessing support.3 While there is no research specifically about the abuse of tāngata whaikaha Māori, information extrapolated from government data collection, indicates that tāngata whaikaha Māori are more likely than non-disabled Māori to experience violent crime (8% vs 3%).4 Māori are more likely to be victims of crime, including by family members and tāngata whaikaha Māori are also more likely than their non-Māori or non-disabled peers to experience some of the other factors associated with higher rates of violence such as being sole parents or facing financial or psychological stress.5 Violence and abuse, accompanied by the effects of colonisation, racism, discrimination, intergenerational trauma, ableism and cultural disconnection, compound the disadvantage tāngata whaikaha Māori experience. Violence and abuse and the resulting impacts on tāngata whaikaha affect not only the individual but also their wider community and whānau, which has intergenerational impacts. While there is a significant absence of data on violence and abuse against tāngata whaikaha Māori, the available data leaves no doubt that this is a serious issue. Whakamanahia Te Tiriti, Whakahaumarutia te Tangata - Honour the Treaty, Protect the person 3