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NZCPR Weekly
The March of Human Rights
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This week, NZCPR Weekly looks at the progress of the human rights movement, the NZCPR Guest Commentator, Bruce Logan
asks whether the agenda of the United Nations is threatening our national sovereignty, and this week's poll asks whether
you believe the UN has too much influence on New Zealand's domestic law.
Last week's designation of a Select Committee room of Parliament as the "Rainbow Room" shows just how far the human
rights movement in New Zealand has marched over the last sixty years. Standing alongside other Select Committee rooms
dedicated to Maori, Pacific Islanders, Asians and women, the Rainbow Room was dedicated by the Speaker to recognise gay,
lesbian and trans-gender New Zealanders "and the paths they have taken to full citizenship with equal rights."[1]
On December 10, 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
foundation document of the human rights movement.[2] Originally designed to protect citizens from the abuse of power by
the state, human rights legislation has now become a vehicle used by activists to harness the power of the state to
promote and mainstream their cause, often overturning centuries of history and tradition in the process.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) came into being after the Second World War, reflecting the world’s
abhorrence of atrocities such as the Holocaust. The fundamental idea behind the declaration was that if a set of basic
safeguards for citizens was developed that would protect them from mistreatment by the state – safeguards such as the
protection of life, liberty, and dignity - then all governments would agree to sign up.
The process of developing the UDHR was carried out by a multinational committee of the United Nations under the
chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt. Their challenge was to devise a binding code of conduct for governments that would be
universally accepted. At the heart of the Committee’s deliberations was the merging of the Anglo-American view of rights
as limitations on government with the Continental concept of rights as claims on government.
The Anglo-American approach to human rights is based on the concept of protecting citizens from the Government. It
recognises the considerable power held by the state, which, if used in the wrong way, can lead to death and destruction.
With history being littered with tragic tales of genocide, torture, and persecution this approach to human rights
attempts to prevent such atrocities by limiting the state's power. Its focus is on the need to protect the freedom of
individuals from state control, and to restrict the way that the government deals with them: from safeguarding the
freedom of expression, to protecting private property rights and enforcing the rule of law.
The Continental approach on the other hand is concerned with utilising the power of the state to provide services -
education, welfare, pensions, health care, public housing and the like – and to ensure that individuals have the right
of access. This approach, however, is open to socialist capture as rather than restricting the power of the state, it
leads to an expansion of the state as individuals and groups call for the government – in the name of “rights” - to do
more.
It is this marriage of ideologically opposed approaches to human rights that can cause confusion and create distortions.
On the one hand are constraints to limit government and protect the rights and freedoms of individuals, while on the
other hand are demands for more government interventions, which by their very nature erode the rights and freedoms of
individuals. And when governments are faced with a choice between the two approaches, unsurprisingly, it is the one that
expands their power and control which usually wins. In other words, the human rights movement, which was originally
created in order to restrain government has instead become a movement to expand government.
Who could have imagined, for example, that those early calls for an end to discrimination against women would have
resulted in feminists successfully undermining marriage and the family, not to mention marginalising boys and men. Such
is the insidious way that the rights movement works - whereby activists gain powerful positions in the government, the
public service, academia and non-government organisations (NGOs) from which to drive their agenda - that mainstream
society is often largely unaware of any threat to accepted traditions and values until it is too late.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator Bruce Logan, writer and founder of the Maxim Institute, describes the growth of the
rights movement in his opinion piece "Is the United Nations a Threat to National Sovereignty". He explains how tensions
have arisen between the United Nations and individual governments, which are increasingly uncomfortable about accepting
a human rights agenda that is driven by the UN’s desire for a "new world order" rather than by the demands of their own
citizens:
"A subtle shift in authority and propaganda is taking place between the New Zealand government and some conventions of
the United Nations. For example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has, in the domestic setting
since it was ratified in 1993, developed its own special kind of authority (especially in the eyes of public
intellectuals appointed to implement it), and, as a consequence, trumped the sensitivities and beliefs of ordinary New
Zealand citizens.
"We have seen this in the last couple of years with the removal of Section 59 of the 1961 Crimes Act. There were no
hordes of parents or children demonstrating on the streets. The call for change came from public intellectuals and noisy
NGOs, well placed in relation to the levers of control and media influence. They won the day because the clear, common
sense distinction between parental discipline in the context of the family, was usurped by an ideological confusion of
parental correction with violence. And Human Rights’ Commissions are partners in seduction. In New Zealand the Human
Rights Commission supported the removal of section 59 from the Crimes Act". To read the article click the sidebar
link>>>
In fact, the removal of section 59 of the Crimes Act is part of the "Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of
Children", an international human rights campaign driven by the United Nations.[3] While it is promoted as a way of
safeguarding children’s rights, the more sinister outcome is the undermining of parental rights.
Thanks to MMP and the Green Party, New Zealand has now signed up to the global agenda and outlawed traditional child
correction methods. This follows on from the Labour Government’s abolition of corporal punishment in schools in 1989,
similarly carried out for ideological reasons, rather than through public demand. This change has seen an unprecedented
escalation of violence in schools, seriously undermining the authority of teachers.[4]
Another United Nations driven rights campaign that has fueled the actions of a minority group in New Zealand to progress
a radical agenda is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This campaign, which blames
colonisation for the oppression of indigenous people, demands self rule. In particular Article 4 states: "Indigenous
peoples, in exercising their right to self determination have the right to autonomy or self government in matters
relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions".[5]
This right to self government is a key demand of the Maori sovereignty movement and, according to a recent speech given
by the President of the Maori Party, the Maori Party itself: "Our four members of Parliament … are the foundations
blocks for the Tikanga Mâori House that has emerged. This is the House that our tûpuna tried to fashion a century ago.
It is now a reality. Every vote for the Mâori Party is a vote for the Tikanga Mâori House".[6]
While the New Zealand Government joined Australia, Canada and the United States in voting against this UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous People, it is likely that, with the support of the United Nations, the call by activists for
self government will continue to grow.
During its 9 years in power, the Labour Government has been a champion of the rights movement. However, the Minister of
Education, Chris Carter has now been accused of taking his commitment to gay rights a step too far. By publicly
endorsing a scholarship for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender students only on a flyer to schools, the Minister
could be seen as putting the rights of gay students ahead of others.[7]
It is when the rights agenda crosses the line into the area of positive discrimination – using the power of the state to
promote the cause, rather than minimizing barriers to advancement – that it goes too far. The Minister appears to have
crossed that line.
ENDS