The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
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
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
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer’s use of a Taser on a young person who had stolen a small tractor and led Police in a pursuit, was an unreasonable and excessive use of force. Shortly after midnight on Monday 16 April 2018, an intoxicated 15-year old stole a tractor in Kaiwaka
A highly-classified report which confirmed possible civilian deaths during a 2010 SAS-led raid in Afghanistan was read and placed in a safe in Defence Force headquarters — only to be found accidentally. Defence Force officials have claimed no knowledge of how the report travelled from coalition forces in Afghanistan to New Zealand and how it repeatedly escaped attention
Our spies fed questions to the Central Intelligence Agency which were put to someone taken in the illegal rendition and torture programme operated by the United States’ agency, a new inquiry has found. At the time the questions were posed, the NZ Security Intelligence Service “was not aware that detainee interrogations involved torture”, according to
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,
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
