PICTURE: Tracey Whare de Castro (left) and Claire Charters introduce their new film on the UN and Maori rights.

WHEN Wellington law lecturer Claire Charters asked her students which country boasts the best legal rights for indigenous people, they all thought it was New Zealand.

They were wrong.  New Zealand is one of only three countries to have refused to sign a 2007 UN Declaration guaranteeing these legal rights.

Ms Charters, (Nga Puhi, Ngati Tuwharetoa), is part of a group which hopes to right such misconceptions.

The organisation, the Aotearoa Indigenous Rights Trust (ART), has just released a DVD which encourages Maori to use the United Nations to uphold all their human rights, and shows how many other indigenous peoples are doing the same thing.

An Introduction to Maori and the United Nations uses original footage of UN meetings and interviews with indigenous representatives to tell the 20-year story of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

Ms Charters is a senior lecturer in Victoria University law school and has studied international human rights law in Geneva under the UN Indigenous Fellowship Programme.  So far the fellowship, active since 2000, has been awarded to 100 indigenous people from 46 countries.

In terms of her students’ ideas about the rights of indigenous people, she says: “We’re lucky to live in a country that has that sense of positivism.”

She believes it would be nice to see a lot more Maori engaged with the UN, and her fellow trust member and key driver for the DVD, Tracey Whare de Castro, (Ngati Raukawa, Te Whanau-a-Apanui) agrees.

“There is an obligation to come back from the UN and share with our people,” she says.
 
Most ART members are Maori lawyers passionate about human rights.  None is paid by the charity, which was set up in 2000 to inform Maori about UN processes and structures available for indigenous people.

ART has monitored the progress of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and brought the discussions back home to Maori via email groups, formal reports and touring the country in a campervan.
 
Changing the fact New Zealand is one of only three countries to oppose the declaration (Australia and the US are the others) remains a focus for ART.

The declaration is the latest of UN documents to set out human rights frameworks, all of which are based on the post-World War II Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Maori involvement with the UN dates back to this time, with the Universal Declaration translated into te reo in 1948.

The declaration provides standards for the protection rights and well-being of indigenous peoples around the world.  It includes freedom from discrimination, self-determination, protection of cultural and religious practises and fair and adequate compensation for historical injustices.

Ms Whare de Castro believes the declaration would complement existing collective rights of Maori guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi, and she wants the trust DVD to help Maori see the connections.

More than 2500 people attended the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues last year, in which indigenous groups discuss issues which may be in conflict with nation states.

South Island iwi Ngai Tahu used the forum in 2004 to discuss New Zealand’s controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act.  A 2005 visit from the UN Special Rapporteur, an independent expert, recommended repeal of the Act alongside a raft of other measures to entrench legal rights for Maori. 

Ms Whare de Castro says prior to being elected as government, the National Party had not issued policy on these issues, which she believes are likely to be considered under the promised constitutional review.

“We would like to know if there is going to be change, especially with the coalition with the Maori Party.”

The 26-minute DVD is for sale from the ART website http://airtrust.wordpress.com/.  It was made using small grants from Swiss funder Incomindios and the UN voluntary fund.

Aotearoa Indigenous Rights Trust members are: Tracey Whare de Castro; Claire Charters; Maria Bargh (Te Arawa); Huhana Smith (Ngati Raukawa); Teanau Tuiono (Nga Puhi); Taki Anaru (Te Arawa); Estebancio Castro Diaz and Manu Caddie.