Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have today announced they will support the ACT Party’s motion to declare that this House is gravely concerned about the possible severe human rights abuses taking place against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

“We will support any good motion that aligns with our values and policy, and so Rawiri and I will vote for this motion as it rightly draws attention to the suffering of the Uyghur people and the human rights abuses they are facing,” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer.

“We are however concerned that this motion has been watered down before it was debated in this House. We need to be calling out these atrocities for what they are, where ever they are happening in the world. The attempted genocide of these communities is undeniable - more than a million people are estimated to have been detained at camps in the region of Xinjiang and many are suffering from horrible inhumane practices, such as organ harvesting.

“Te Pati Māori has a strong track record on standing up for human rights and indigenous rights in Aotearoa and internationally. We will continue to advocate for indigenous peoples and fight racism and bigotry in all its forms,” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer.

“We stand in solidarity with all indigenous and oppressed peoples right around the world. Just as we stand with the Uyghur people, we too stand with our Pasifika whanaunga in West Papua who are suffering genocide, we stand with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, we stand with the First Nations of Turtle Island fighting for justice at Standing Rock and our Hawaiian whanaunga at Mauna Kea,” said Mr Waititi.

“ACT is well known for pushing colonial agendas that oppress the indigenous peoples here so I struggle to understand how they have all of sudden developed a desire to support the indigenous peoples in China.

“One would hope that they extend their new moral position to their own country,” said Mr Waititi.

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