New Zealand’s human rights eroding says Amnesty

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

“We are witnessing unprecedented levels of human rights change as protests for freedom and justice spread like wildfire across the Middle East and North Africa. While our Government has been supportive of these promising changes, its failure to live up to our own human rights obligations smacks of hypocrisy” says Patrick Holmes, Chief Executive Officer of Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ.

In August, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp confirmed there was a risk the NZSAS had been involved in the transfer of detainees to torture in Afghanistan and that he had launched an investigation. Nine months later, and despite mounting fresh evidence and allegations, the Government has not released the findings of its investigation, despite promising to do so, and has refused to agree to an independent investigation.

Amnesty welcomed the Government’s support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in April and the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act in 2011, but concerns remain that its replacement has largely the same discriminatory impact.

In November the Immigration Act came into effect, allowing for the extension of the detention period of refugees and asylum-seekers without warrant, lacking an explicit guarantee against the detention of children and preventing asylum applicants from access to judicial review.

The Government has failed to formally safeguard human rights for all New Zealanders by continuing to refuse to legally entrench the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, allowing for the possible enactment of legislation that could be inconsistent with its provisions. The Act also fails to give legal recognition to economic, social and cultural rights.

Holmes also criticises Pacific nations: “Away from the international headlines, thousands of people in the Pacific are being denied social and economic opportunity, and human rights defenders have been threatened, imprisoned and tortured.” He singles out Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea for particular attention.

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