Ki te whaiao, ki te ao Mārama The New Zealand government ratified ICERD in 1972 and is bound under international law to fulfil its obligations. Article 2 which requires States to “undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms”. Article 8 of the ICERD creates a United Nations treaty body, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), that monitors implementation of the ICERD, examines State reports and makes recommendations to the State party. In 2017, CERD expressed its concern on the lack of a national plan against racism and recommended that the New Zealand government create a national action plan against racism, with the Race Relations Commissioner playing a leadership role in community engagement to assist. CERD further recommended the Plan include: • assessing current, and projecting future, changes in the country’s demographics • assessing the adequacy of current structures and processes to respond appropriately to the country’s changing demographics • making changes necessary to ensure that the diversity of the population is appropriately reflected in planning and delivery of services • developing and implementing measures aimed at increasing social cohesion • developing a comprehensive plan, working in partnership with Māori and other relevant groups, that can be used to identify actions, build ownership and measure results to meet the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce inequalities in social indicators among ethnic groups in the population of the State party with respect to health, employment, education and housing, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata with special emphasis on adequate, affordable and safe housing by 2030. The implementation plan should have a particular focus on security of tenure.xxx This report is a key part of implementing this recommendation. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples There are also several United Nations resolutions or declarations that establish normative standards of practice and represent the development of international legal norms. The most recent of these is the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) of 2007. Thirty years in the making, UNDRIP provides a clear set of standards that apply existing human rights treaties to the specific situation of Indigenous peoples. It affirms treaties, agreements and partnerships between states and Indigenous peoples, and reiterates the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. UNDRIP at Article 37 affirms that Indigenous people have the right to the recognition, observance and enforcement of existing treaties and agreements. In affirming the foundational status of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Indigenous Declaration therefore upholds the rights conferred by that agreement. UNDRIP upholds the fundamental right to self-determination – which also appears in both the ICCPR and ICESCR – reinforcing the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga in Article 2 of Te Tiriti. UNDRIP was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2007. New Zealand initially voted against UNDRIP in 2007. In 2010, however, New Zealand reversed its position, and the Government indicated its support for the UNDRIP as “both an affirmation of existing rights and [an] expression of new and widely supported aspirations”.xxxi 94