The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
“Beyond unacceptable” delays for Human Rights Tribunal claims have gotten worse, a year after a co-chairperson was appointed to help clear the backlog. Stuff revealed in February that Human Rights Review Tribunal chairman Rodger Haines had repeatedly complained to successive ministers that ballooning delays meant “access to justice is being denied to almost all”. Since 2016, he
Over the last few months, we have urged Minister of Justice Andrew Little to make sure that the appointment of human rights commissioners is non-partisan by including opposition parties in the process. Now, the Minister has agreed to do so. In May, our chair, Peter Hosking wrote in Newsroom: Justice Minister Andrew Little has moved quickly on the report
The Human Rights Foundation has published two new pamphlets: a Guide to Protecting Yourself from Harmful Activity Online and a Guide to Your Rights when Dealing with the NZSIS. We have prepared these response in response to concerns raised by people in New Zealand’s Muslim community. We are also preparing credit card sized summaries
Every 4.5 years, the United Nations Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva to do a stocktake of New Zealand’s human rights performance, measured against the international human rights we have signed up to, and our own human rights standards. The same process applies to other countries too – but 2019 is our turn. The process
New Zealand’s intelligence watchdog has launched an inquiry into our spy agencies’ involvement in the military’s Afghanistan activities – including the raid which allegedly killed innocent civilians. The investigation will focus in part on whether the agencies adhered to New Zealand’s human rights obligations regarding the capture of prisoners, in a seeming reference to allegations
The Defence Force has put together a special unit to defend the SAS against claims its soldiers were responsible for Afghan civilian deaths. And they’ve hired top QC Paul Radich, paying him $546 an hour. The 12-man special inquiry office, led by senior naval officer Commodore Mathew Williams, was set up to respond to the government-ordered inquiry into
Outgoing Defence Force Chief Tim Keating has revealed there is an investigation under way into allegations made in The Valley documentary. The Stuff Circuit series looked into the 2004 SAS raid in Afghanistan which led to the awarding of a Victoria Cross to Willie Apiata. In 2017, Keating said he would respond publicly, but he failed to do
Last week, the apology and compensation extended to Nicky Hager was justly celebrated as a victory for investigative journalism – and as a denunciation of a Police raid that, as Hager said in one interview, had almost derailed his subsequent book Hit & Run. Fine. All good. Yet with a minimum of publicity, a High Court ruling
Nicky Hager describes how police targeted his daughter’s mobile number and even his TradeMe records of tadpole purchases in their hunt for the sources behind “Dirty Politics”. He explains the chilling effect of the police raid and why it should never happen again. I was in Auckland to give a university lecture about my new
The Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Foundation today signed an open letter along with over 200 New Zealand businesses, community organisations and leaders, which we together delivered to climate minister James Shaw. The open letter was coordinated by WWF-New Zealand and Generation Zero. The letter congratulates the government on setting “a new, bold, ambitious goal of
