Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
MEDIA RELEASE – For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 April 2009

New Zealand Should Follow Australia’s Lead in Supporting Indigenous Rights Declaration

The New Zealand government should follow Australia’s lead in declaring support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, says Caritas, the Catholic agency for Justice, Peace and Development.

“New Zealand’s Bishops called on the government last year to enhance our country’s proud record of leadership in human rights by supporting the Declaration,” says Caritas CEO Michael Smith.

New Zealand was one of four countries to vote against the adoption of the Declaration by the United Nations, alongside the United States, Australia and Canada –settler nations with very similar colonial histories to our own.

“Now that the Australian government has reversed that decision, and the United States and Canada are understood to be also reconsidering their support, New Zealand should also support the Declaration,” said Mr Smith.

Last week in Parliament’s question time, Prime Minister John Key indicated that the New Zealand government was monitoring Australia’s position on the Declaration, with a view to considering whether New Zealand might be able to support the Declaration on a similar basis.

Representatives of the Holy See spoke in support of the Declaration during debates at the United Nations in 2007, and support by the Bishops of the Oceania for the Declaration was referred to by Pope John Paul II in his 2001 apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic aid, development and social justice agencies active in over 200 countries and territories

All Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand media releases are available on http://www.caritas.org.nz

ENDS

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