The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
The “Report of the Government Inquiry into Operation Burnham and related matters” (“the Report”) was released on Friday to the New Zealand public. The Human Rights Foundation has previously questioned and criticised the Operation Burnham Inquiry process which has largely operated in secret and failed to properly engage with lawyers for the families of the
The Human Rights Foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand will hold its 2020 Annual General Meeting on Monday, 6 July 2020 at 7pm. All members are welcome. The meeting will be held via Zoom. Please register your intention to attend by email to: clive.aspin@vuw.ac.nz. We will send you a Zoom link together with an agenda and
The coalition government still seems unable (or unwilling) to respond in any meaningful way to the slew of progressive recommendations contained in the Welfare Export Advisory Group report – which, in effect, has been shelved since February. On another front though, the government has now done the right thing, and has partially restored the right of
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says it is “reprehensible” that unexploded ordnance left behind on firing ranges in Afghanistan is killing people. “New Zealand has at the very least a moral responsibility to remove any toxic remnants of war for which it was responsible,” she told Stuff Circuit. “New Zealand could be a leader in this area by accepting
Read more and sign on at ActionStation: We ask Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister Stuart Nash to resist an increased militarising of police in this country – stop the trial of and commit to not implementing the Armed Response Teams and the further arming of our police. Why is this important? Last week, Police
Bad enough that the National Party led by Simon Bridges is still aiming to run a modern economy with a package of ideas – tax cuts, de-regulation, small government – that were fashionable in the late 1980s, but which became discredited over a decade ago, given how bank de-regulation caused the Global Financial Crisis. This
A man killed by a driver fleeing police left home before dawn to secure a park, then sleep in his car for two hours before starting work at Christchurch Hospital. Kenneth McCaul was driving his Hyundai Grandeur when he was T-boned at the intersection of Glandovey and Idris roads in Fendalton about 4am on Tuesday. The impact shunted his car into
Police Minister Stuart Nash told Stuff that arming police is “not his call”, because it was an “operational matter”. The Police Commissioner is responsible for decisions about whether to arm Police, which he did after the Christchurch racist terrorist attack. However, section 16 of the Policing Act 2008 states that the Police Commissioner is responsible to
Highly trained, armed police are a necessary tool in emergency situations, but roving teams eager to find work could be a recipe for disaster, writes investigator and former police officer Tim McKinnel for RNZ. Police announced yesterday they are to introduce a trial of Armed Response Teams (ARTs) in Auckland, Waikato and Christchurch, euphemistically describing their
An SAS commander says he informed the Defence Minister of possible civilian deaths during a raid in Afghanistan, again shifting responsibility for an alleged cover up. Defence Force top brass continues to stare down allegations of civilian deaths during a 2010 SAS-led raid, as the Operation Burnham inquiry restarts a public hearing this week. The hearing was upset last month after
