5th Periodic Report under the International Covenant for Economic Social and Cultural Rights Feedback
Article 1: Right to self-determination
Read the text in the report here.
The Covenant guarantees that has all peoples have the right to determine issues such as their system of government, their economic policies, and how to deal with their natural resources. No one can take away a person's means of subsistence.
The report covers matters such as an update on policy and legislative developments relating to the Treaty of Waitangi.
Committee recommendations
The paragraph numbers below are taken from the Committees concluding observations that you can access here.
9. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Take immediate steps, in partnership with Māori representative institutions, to implement the recommendations of the Constitutional Advisory Panel regarding the role of the Treaty of Waitangi within its constitutional arrangements, together with the proposals put forward in the 2016 Matike Mai Aotearoa report;
(b) Ensure systematic and full implementation of recommendations put forward by the Waitangi Tribunal, including in its landmark report Ko Aotearoa Tēnei;
(c) Develop a national strategy to bring legislation and public policy into line with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensure adequate financial and human resources are provided to the independent monitoring mechanism of the Declaration established by the Iwi Chairs Forum;
(d) Considering the Waitangi Tribunal recommendations regarding processes for engaging with Māori, put in place effective mechanisms to ensure meaningful participation of Māori in all decision-making processes affecting their rights. To that end, the State party should ensure that its trade strategy include provisions on transparency and public participation, and its climate change policies are developed and implemented in partnership with Māori, including through their effective participation in the Climate Commission;
(e) Take effective measures to ensure compliance with the requirement of obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, notably in the context of extractive and development activities, and conduct social, environmental and human rights impact assessments prior to granting licences for extractive and development activities and during operations;
(f) Consider ratifying the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization.