HUMAN RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND 20 1 0 affirmation of existing rights and [an] expression of new and widely supported aspirations”. 8 Indigenous peoples have the same human rights as all others, and “indigenous rights” express how these are interpreted and applied in the context of their specific collective situation. Indigenous rights affirm that resources. It emphasises the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions, and to pursue their development in keeping with their needs and aspirations. For example, the Declaration affirms that Indigenous peoples have the right to: Indigenous peoples, like other peoples, are entitled to • enjoyment of all their human rights (Article 1) their distinct identity. They recognise the historical and • equality and freedom from discrimination (Article 2) ongoing circumstances that have prevented them from • self-determination of political status and economic, fully enjoying their rights on an equal basis with others. The rights set out in the declaration are to be interpreted as minimum standards (Article 43). The declaration cannot be construed as diminishing any other rights which Indigenous peoples have (Article 45); and it is to be interpreted in accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, respect for human rights, equality, nondiscrimination, good governance and good faith (Article 46). With its strong focus on the reciprocal relationships between Indigenous people and the State, many of the Declaration’s provisions reinforce the Treaty principles cultural and social development (Article 3) • maintain and strengthen their distinct institutions (Article 5) • practise and revitalise their cultural traditions and customs (Article 11) and language (Article 13) • establish and control their own educational systems and institutions (Article 14) • establish their own media and access non-indigenous media without discrimination (Article 16) • participate in decision-making in matters that affect their rights through their own representatives (Article 18) • improvement of their economic and social conditions that provide for co-operation, good faith, consultation (Article 21), particularly for women and children and partnership. For example, the Declaration: (Article 22) • encourages co-operative relations based on principles of justice, democracy, respect for human rights, nondiscrimination and good faith (Preamble, para 18) • recognises treaties, and the relationship they represent, as the basis for strengthened partnerships (Preamble, para 15) • affirms Indigenous peoples’ rights to the observance and enforcement of treaties (Article 37) • obliges states to take positive steps to ”promote tolerance, understanding and good relations among • maintain and strengthen their distinctive relationships with traditional lands (Article 25) • their lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned (Article 26) • redress and just, fair and equitable compensation for lands and resources taken (Article 28) • maintain, control, protect and develop traditional knowledge and cultural expressions (Article 31) • determine and develop priorities and strategies for land and resource development (Article 32). Indigenous peoples and all other segments of society” The Declaration sets out the responsibilities of states (Article 15(2)). to assist Indigenous peoples in realising those rights, In this reciprocal context, the Declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including: • taking effective measures for prevention of, and including rights to self-determination, culture, identity, redress for, dispossession, forced assimilation or rights language, employment, health, education, land and violations (Article 8) 8 Announcing New Zealand’s reversed position at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in April 2010, the Minister of Mäori Affairs noted that the Government also “reaffirmed the legal and constitutional frameworks that underpin New Zealand’s legal system”. See Hon Pita Sharples, Minister of Mäori Affairs (2010), ‘Supporting UN Declaration Restores New Zealand’s Mana’, 20 April. Accessed 14 June 2010 from http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/supporting+un+declaration+restores+NZ039s+mana 43