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Government's Discriminatory Red Zone
Government's Discriminatory Red Zone Offer
Undermines Human Rights &
Civil Rights
After 3
years of legal battle the government has now agreed to make
full
offers to commercial and vacant land owners whose
properties were
illegally red-zoned. However it decided
to single out self-insured
homeowners and offers nothing
for their homes.
The government has committed violations
against UN's Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
Article 17(b) - No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of
his property.
The government also violates UN's ICCPR
(International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights)
Article 12(1) - Everyone lawfully within the
territory of
a State shall, with that territory, have the right
to
liberty of movement and freedom to choose his
residence.
Quake Outcasts members say this is deliberate
discrimination against
vulnerable people. Despite the
recent Supreme Court ruling which stated
that "we do not
consider that the insurance status of properties in
the
red zone should have been treated as determinative
when deciding that
there should be a differential..."
(See Section 167 of Supreme Court
Judgment SC5/2014
[2015] NZSC 27), the government still uses
insurance
status to single out some property
owners.
From day-one of the June 2011 red zoning
announcement the government has
embarked on a campaign of
intimidation, coercion, and deception. It
withheld
crucial information, delayed normal recovery processes,
and
hoodwinked vulnerable homeowners into a "Hobson's
Choice" to sell to the
Crown.
Its continuing rhetoric
on "taxpayer's money" against the Quake Outcasts
was
nowhere to be heard when bailing out failing high-risk
financial
firms to the tune of hundreds of millions. The
government never asked
"the taxpayer" for their opinion
when deciding to bail out the failing
insurance company
AMI.
When it unlawfully declared a "residential red zone"
without asking the
taxpayer nor affected residents, the
government committed itself to an
irreversible
course.
We condemn this government's actions. No doubt
history will record them
as one of the worst scandals in
modern
times.
ENDS
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