26 November 2025
Māori leaders have told the
UN Committee on Eliminating Racial Discrimination (CERD)
that racism against Māori has escalated under the current
government.
New Zealand is signed up to the UN’s
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (CERD). This requires the government
to take action to eliminate racism and racial discrimination
and promote understanding between all races in
Aotearoa.
Under CERD, the government is required to
regularly report on its progress at eliminating racial
discrimination and supporting indigenous peoples, ethnic and
religious minority groups to enjoy their rights and
freedoms.
The government is presenting its report to
CERD this week in Geneva, the committee will then publish
draft findings and recommendations before the end of its
116th session, which concludes on 5 December 2025.
The
session was opened by Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith who
told the committee that improving the lives of all New
Zealanders, regardless of background, is the government’s
priority.
He said he is confident the coalition
government’s focus will build a strong economy which will
benefit all New Zealanders including Māori.
“It’s the
priority of the government to improve the lives of all New
Zealanders including Māori and a key focus for this is the
government using data, evidence and best practice to deliver
social investment on the basis of need.”
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Presenting on
behalf of the National Iwi Chairs Forum Pou Tikanga and the
Peoples Action Plan Against Racism, Tina Ngata told the
committee that racism against Māori has escalated under the
coalition government.
The Iwi Chairs Forum is one of
around twelve organisations who have submitted shadow
reports to the committee.
“For our report we’ve really
highlighted what we have called the treaty assault, or
hostility towards the treaty and that includes the Treaty
Principles Bill, the Regulatory Standards Bill, the Treaty
Clause Review where they have looked to remove a number of
treaty clauses from legislation,” Ngata told RNZ.
The
forum also raised concerns that affect other minorities,
including the ban
on puberty blockers, she said.
“One of the other
key issues that we’ve raised is the way in which this
government has inverted the language of racism. So an
example of that is how David Seymour in a number of his
submissions and in public communications has called treaty
policies or treaty clauses forms of racism.”
Ngata
said there is no one fix to these issues, but it is
important to address it on as many fronts as possible, from
your own whenua, to the UN, the courts and at select
committee.
“The combination of our wānanga, the
combination or our occupation, the combination of our hīkoi
and our international work that together creates this
pressure for government’s to either change how they are or
to step to the side.”
Danielle Marks is part of the
Kāhui Rangatahi of the Peoples Action Plan Against Racism,
there to understand more about the processes at the UN and
CERD and to give a young person’s perspective on the issues
raised.
Marks told RNZ the removal of the requirement
for school boards to give affect to Te Tiriti is one
issue they are focused on.
“The first line for our
rangatahi is our education system… so making sure that our
first experience of Te Tiriti in action is actually upheld
by not only our kura, our school boards but also by the
government.”
Marks said young people are feeling the
onslaught as every day brings a new issue.
“If these
institutions can’t hold our government to account it’s hard
to think of what else they can do, but it’s also
important… making sure that if we don’t have these spaces
to talk about these issues this this government is just
going to continuously change the rhetoric of what is good
and what is wrong in our country at the moment.”
A complaint
presented to CERD this week by Māori Health leader Lady
Tureiti Moxon is not part of the ordinary reviewing
cycle.
Moxon is seeking for CERD to use its Early
Warning and Urgent Action procedure, something it has only
used once before for New
Zealand.
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