The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
Politicians have been told New Zealand’s “racist” refugee policy must change towards Middle Eastern and African people. The current policy brought in by National a decade ago means refugees from those areas are only allowed to resettle here if they already have family living in the country. World Vision presented a petition to the Education and Workforce
Climate change poses enormous human rights challenges in the Pacific and within Aotearoa New Zealand. It places responsibilities on governments and every one of us. While climate change is on the agenda of Pacific leaders in Tuvalu this week, they should ensure the link between climate change, human rights and responsibilities is explicit. Rising temperatures,
The UN has asked the Government to stop the development of Ihumātao. Until then, NZ is in breach of its international human rights responsibilties. Friday was the UN-designated international day of Indigenous Peoples. However, there is no cause for celebration on Ihumātao. In March this year, the leading UN human rights watchdogs on Indigenous peoples’ rights and housing
A new ruling on the ban on prisoner voting delivers a fierce reminder of the need for urgent change. Now it’s over to the government: put up or shut up, writes Andrew Geddis. In some ways, it tells us nothing we didn’t already know: the legislative ban on prisoners voting enacted in 2010 by National
Police have again increased their presence at Ihumātao, dividing those who have occupied the land in peaceful protest from their frontline. According to sources on the ground, police began forming rank around homes and separated the groups from each other, preventing people and supplies from passing. Local resident and beneficiary of Makaurau Marae, Haki Wilson says the police
On Thursday the Privacy Commissioner delivered a damning report into how the Ministry Of Social Development (MSD) investigates benefit fraud. MSD was found to have intruded into the privacy of hundreds of beneficiaries by collecting sensitive information from telcos each year – even in cases where no fraud was established. The ministry accepted the findings
US Apache helicopters captured footage of Afghan targets being shot at during a New Zealand SAS raid. The video footage released on Friday is part of a tranche of previously classified material released by the Hit & Run author Nicky Hager on Friday. A Government inquiry is inspecting claims made in the book Hit & Runthat New Zealand SAS soldiers killed six civilians
The Government has been accused of having “its head in the sand about sex trafficking” in New Zealand. The allegation, made by ECPAT Child Alert director Eleanor Parkes, comes as two recently released official reports paint contradictory pictures of the scale of human trafficking and the Government’s response to it. The Minister of Justice’s draft report to the United
A revelation that insurgent commanders were present in villages raided by SAS troopers changes nothing, Hit & Run co-author Nicky Hager says. The confirmation from the Taliban commanders, published by Stuff and Hit & Run co-author Jon Stephenson on Wednesday, contradicts an account from Afghan villagers that no insurgents were present during the Operation Burnham raids. But both Hager and villagers’ lawyer say the new
Today, we have launched an appeal to raise funds to support the people who live in Naik and Khak Khudday Dad in Afghanistan – the alleged victims of New Zealand soldiers in Operation Burnham. DONATE NOW In August 2010, during raids by the New Zealand Defence Force and its allies on the villages of Naik
