Māori Ocean Protectors Call upon Norwegian Government to Answer to Spy Allegations

Indigenous rights advocacy group Te Ikaroa stand with Greenpeace New Zealand in decrying the violation of campaigners' privacy by the oil industry.

We are alarmed to hear that this may also involve the New Zealand and Norwegian governments, and ask the Norwegian government either confirm or deny their awareness that our own Te Ikaroa campaigners were also being surveilled by Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil.

The oil industry continues to abuse the rights of Papatūānuku our Earth Mother, and Te Wainui, our great ocean and all life within it. It stands to reason that they have no moral code. They have shown complete disregard for the laws of nature, a price which we are all paying, and which our descendents will continue to pay. Now that they have broken the laws of the New Zealand government, we hope that a measure of the justice they must answer to will be brought to bear.

Further to this, we note that Statoil is state-owned by the Norwegian government. Just months ago we hand delivered our petition with the voices of 80 hapu and iwi, and supported by over 24,000 New Zealanders, stating our clear, collective objection to Statoil’s activities along our coastline. It now appears as though the Norwegian government were aware all along that their presence was not welcome. Norway has ratified and endorsed two important international documents – International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (C169), and the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which urge them to respect the rights of indigenous peoples, respect our territories and our subsistence traditions.

If it is true that the Norwegian government knowingly allowed their own oil company, Statoil, to violate the privacy of our campaigners while defending our indigenous rights, then that flies directly in the face of the commitments they have made to the global community.

Indigenous defenders of lands and waters have, for many years, been subjected to persecution by corporate and state interests. In West Papua, Tūhoe, Parihaka, Mauna Kea, Alberta Tar Sands, and at Standing Rock, human and indigenous rights have been contravened. If the New Zealand government has been aware of this crime then it demonstrates they have learnt nothing from their disastrous actions in relation to the Tuhoe raids. Likewise, if Norway are at all aware of the illegal surveillance of indigenous defenders through Statoil – this demonstrates they have not at all learnt their lessons from holding a role in the brutal treatment of indigenous water defenders at Standing Rock.

ENDS

BACKGROUND

9 June 2017 Te Ikaroa delegation presents petition to Norwegian Permanent Mission to the United Nations Andreas Kravik during the inaugural Oceans Conference in New York.

27 April 2017 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues hears statement from Tawera Tahuri on behalf of Te Ikaroa on concerns regarding seismic testing, drilling, and ocean governance.

22 April 2017 Te Ikaroa campaigners Raihania Tipoki and Tina Ngata are joined by international indigenous rights lawyer Moana Jackson to hold a summit on indigenous oil resistance along Te Ikaroa.

5 April 2017 The Te Ikaroa petition, endorsed by over 80 hapu and iwi along eastern seaboard, surpasses 20,000 signatures of support.

1 April 2017 Traditional Māori waka Te Matau a Māui departs Ahuriri, Napier and intercepts the Amazon Warrior to deliver a message of resistance.

3 April 2017 Te Matau a Māui intercepts the Amazon Warrior. Delivers statements notifying the Amazon Warrior it is in breach of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and instructs it to depart immediately.

3 March 2017 Traditional Māori waka Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti captained by renowned navigator, Jack Thatcher also delivered a message to the Amazon Warrior on behalf of the peoples of Ikaroa Rāwhiti stating (The Amazon Warrior) “stop your work and depart immediately”.

13 January 2017 Reuben Tīpoki joined a Greenpeace flotilla to confront the Amazon Warrior to convey that the people of Te Ikaroa Rāwhiti do not give permission for the Amazon Warrior to be in our waters.

© Scoop Media