New Zealand Exemplars of Anti-Racism Best Practice
Tāmaki Tiriti Workers recently responded to a request from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) to submit an exemplar of anti-racism best practice. The OHCHR works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Within our submission we highlighted a range of work carried out by Treaty workers across New Zealand including:
- The activist scholarship work led by Dr Heather Came, investigating how institutional racism manifests within public health policy making and funding practices. The findings of this work are now being used to inform a national campaign to address systemic racism within the public health sector by 2017.
- Ngāpuhi Speaks - the independent parallel report on the Ngāpuhi nui tonu Waitangi Tribunal hearings, commissioned by the kaumātua and kuia (elders) of Ngāpuhi through Network Waitangi Whangarei. This report is a meticulous summation of the evidence presented at the initial hearings, exploring the background to He Wakaputunga o te Rangatiratanga o Nū Tireni (Declaration of Independence) and the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
- Peace Movement Aotearoa along with the Quaker Treaty Relationship Group and the Rowan Partnership developed Time for a Change as a framework for community discussion on what a values-bases Treaty-based constitutional arrangements might look like. This tool helped inform New Zealanders about our current constitutional arrangements and raised public awareness of the linkages between Te Tiriti o Waitangi and human rights.
- Treaty workers have been running awareness programmes to improve racial climate within New Zealand since the 1960s and 1970s. They are often informed by adult education principles to strengthen critical consciousness.
- Tangata Tiriti - Treaty People is a collaborative project lead by the Treaty Education Group working with the Auckland Regional Migrant Services, Auckland Workers Education Association, the Human Rights Commission and the Refugee Council of New Zealand to promote understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The education kit and programme particularly targets new migrants and is increasingly led by new migrant communities.
- Kupu taea – is an action research project exploring the critical importance of the mass media in promoting human rights, supporting or combating racism, xenophobia and related intolerance. It has produced a range of academic articles and practical resources to support the public and the media itself unravel racism.
- A range of educational resources have been developed within New Zealand to enhance understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These include:
- The Treaty of Waitangi: Questions and Answers produced by Network Waitangi provides an introduction to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This well regarded resource has been reprinted multiple times since its launch in 1989.
- Te Whare – an award-winning short film developed by Richard Green, presenting a modern day parable looking at the relationship between Māori and the British colonisers using the metaphor of a modern house to explore the treaty relationships.
- Treaty Resource Centre operates under the auspices of the Auckland Workers Education Association and provides evidence-based information about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and anti-racism praxis to foster collaboration and awareness raising.