Race relations priorities highlighted in annual report

The Human Rights Commission’s annual Review of Race Relations in New Zealand – Tūi Tūi Tuituiā highlights some crucial priorities for race relations.

New Zealand continues to make progress in relationships between its diverse ethnic groups, but social and economic inequalities remain unacceptably high.

“An unrelenting focus on the elimination of racial inequalities is needed, to ensure future generations of New Zealanders are free from this blight,” said Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres at the official launch of the report in Auckland today (10 March 2011).

“It is also time to examine whether there are still systemic or institutional barriers to racial equality that need to be addressed to make other interventions more effective,” said Mr de Bres.

Positives in New Zealand’s race relations include the growth of te reo Māori and the Māori economy; Parliament reflecting the cultural diversity of the country; and the settling of historical claims for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

However, despite ongoing efforts, entrenched racial inequalities in health, education, employment, justice and housing continue to be a blot on New Zealand’s otherwise positive record. They impact most of all on New Zealand’s children and young people.

The report notes that last year’s ‘three strikes’ legislation and the removal of prisoners’ right to vote are in breach of human rights and will impact disproportionately on Māori.

The report contains 10 priority areas for action for the coming year:

1. protecting children who are vulnerable to abuse from harm and ensuring that all New Zealand children equally enjoy the right to education, good health, housing and freedom from poverty
2. identifying and working to remove any structural or institutional barriers to racial equality in the enjoyment of civil, political, social and economic rights
3. reducing the high rate of unemployment of Māori and Pacific peoples, and particularly of young people
4. reducing the number of people in our prisons and the disproportionate number of them who are Māori
5. making better provision for Mäori representation in local government in this year’s representation reviews

1. ensuring that the transitional arrangements of the Auckland Council to provide for cultural diversity, inclusion and responsive services for diverse communities are confirmed and enhanced
2. monitoring the impact of the new Immigration Act 2009 on migrants and refugees
3. renewing efforts to provide for the learning and use of te reo Māori, Pacific Island and other community languages
4. promoting public discussion and input into New Zealand’s 2010 report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
5. agreeing on actions by the public and private sectors and communities to implement the priority areas identified in the Human Rights Commission’s 2010 review of human rights.

Read the two-page introduction to the race relations report (PDF 800KB).

Download the full Review of Race Relations in New Zealand – Tūi Tūi Tuituiā (PDF 3.3MB).

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