The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
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
A police officer who flung a man in custody against a wall, causing him to hit his head and knock him unconscious, has been found by the Independent Police Conduct Authority to have used excessive force. The incident occurred when an officer, named only as Custody Officer D, attempted to restrain an intoxicated man at
So, New Zealand is pulling out of its military role at Camp Taji in Iraq, where in partnership with the Australians, we currently provide about a quarter of the personnel engaged in a programme that trains Iraqi soldiers. (The Australians currently have about 300 troops stationed at Taji.) Our presence will reduce in stages from the
Māori have got the message across to an independent review group that racism is embedded in every part of the criminal justice system and a Māori-led ‘total rethink’ is required. The independent Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group released its interim He Waka Roimata (A Vessel of Tears) report today, in which it says Māori they have spoken to have
New Zealand’s housing crisis has been labelled a “human rights crisis” by the Human Rights Commissioner. It comes as an international report finds New Zealand is also not meeting its requirements when it comes to Māori, the disabled and prisoners. “It’s extremely embarrassing, New Zealand has a housing crisis, it also has a human rights
The minister responsible for New Zealand’s spy agencies says it’s “surprising” the country doesn’t have a strategy to prevent terrorist attacks. But Andrew Little maintains the country’s intelligence systems are effective. “We like to think we have a counter-terrorism means, the ability to respond to something. But we don’t have a strategy that anticipates and
