Press release 04.05.2017

SOUL travellers return from the UN Indigenous Peoples Forum

A rousing welcome is planned at Auckland International Airport at 1:00 pm on May 5, for campaigners returning from the UN after advocating for the protection of confiscated Māori lands.

SOUL (Save our Unique Landscape, #ProtectIhumatao) represetatives have spent this week at the UN in New York. SOUL has been campaigning for more than two years to stop a 480-unit Fletcher housing development on ancestral land near Auckland Airport.

Pania Newton and Delwyn Roberts of SOUL and Ihumātao Village, have addressed the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) and had a session with the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues. Associate Professor of Law, Claire Charters from the University of Auckland, provided legal advice and assistance in New York and attended meetings with the SOUL delegates.

This international SOUL Campaign action became a necessity as SOUL Spokesperson Brendan Corbett explained: "We have always maintained that the Land Wars have never finished. We hadn't had any joy taking our take (matter of concern) to the Auckland Council and the Government so we applied to represent the people of Ihumātao at the United Nations, at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues."

Pania and Delwyn have been in New York since April 26th attending the PFII.

Pania twice addressed the PFII on the confiscation of Māori land and the planned Fletcher development. Delwyn presented a summary of the impact of the development on the directly affected young people of Te Wai o Hua.

Together they met face to face with the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues, explained the extreme hardship and difficulties faced by the people of Ihumātao since the confiscation of land in the 1860s and invited her to visit to investigate and report.

The strength of the Campaign was demonstrated by the speed of the fund-raising for the delegation. A Give-a-Little Page raised over $5000 within a few days. The Campaign also received a generous donation from Ngā Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa (the Sisters of Mercy New Zealand). Expressing their commitment, Sister Katrina Fabish, Congregational Leader, said, “We are grateful to show our support of the Treaty partnership.”

SOUL spokesperson Brendan Corbett said, "The SOUL delegation was an outstanding success placing Ihumātao on the international stage and drawing significant coverage and support."

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