20 February 2012
Plan to abolish the title of Race Relations Commissioner
The Auckland Council's Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel does not support the call to abolish the title of Race Relations
Commissioner.
Despite assurances that the work of the office will continue, the Panel strongly believes that abolishing the title
minimises the impact that racism and discrimination have on our multicultural nation's well being.
In addition, the removal of a named title will further marginalize and make invisible those communities most often
affected by the consequences of racism and discrimination. In fact, what the Ethnic Panel advocates for is the revision
of the mandate of the Race Relations Office so that complaints of racism and discrimination are more readily
investigated and that the criteria for evaluating and determining complaints do not favour, the perpetrator of racist
and discriminatory practices.
The Acting Chair of the Ethnic Panel, Rev. Amail Habib says that the Panel would also like to see the Office able to
make binding judgements on the breaches of human rights affected by racism and discrimination.
ENDS