The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
We are in shock and mourning, so I’ll keep this brief as I can. On Friday we learned, in the most horrific way, that we live in a country where a man can walk down the street in broad daylight fully armed and livestream his massacre of Muslims at our place of worship. We also learned
In the wake of the terrible loss of New Zealand lives in Christchurch, this article is worth another look: Detachment is a luxury only some enjoy. For women, non-whites or any of the subjects of Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern’s rants, looking the other way is rarely possible, writes Morgan Godfery White nationalism is, for
The Human Rights Foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand is shocked and dismayed at the news of a mass shooting at Masjid Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch. Details are still emerging, and it appears that the situation is ongoing. We have spent the last three years on a joint project with the Muslim community,
Until recently I was of the view that police vehicle pursuits were always justified in order to uphold the law and send a clear message, to young people in particular, that there would be immediate consequences for law breaking. But I’ve changed my mind. Confronted by the alarming number of young people who die during
Deborah Manning works at her kitchen table. Papers and folders and the myriad of legal minutiae are stacked where breakfast is eaten. It’s legal flotsam washed up from the 2010 NZSAS raid alleged to have left six Afghan villagers dead and 15 others wounded. This is where Fatima, 3, allegedly killed during the raid, finds
EDITORIAL: By default, you should have access to official government information. Sadly, too often it doesn’t work like that. We’re a country slouching toward increased state secrecy. Reputation-conscious politicians, a risk-averse public sector conditioned to shield ministers from embarrassment, the explosion in “PR professionals”, and the punishing workload on the Ombudsman’s office have combined to thwart
Police have admitted that officers in Canterbury got it wrong when they left a woman alone despite her threats to hurt herself. The Independent Police Conduct Authority said a woman told officers she was planning on self-harming. The officers told staff at the station, but no-one stayed with the woman, the authority said. While waiting
A police officer’s incorrect use of road spikes caused a pregnant woman to be hurt when her car was rammed by a vehicle driven by two teenagers, an independent report has found. The two teens had been driving a stolen Mazda in South Auckland on February 28 last year, when police began a pursuit at
Westpac has reached a settlement with journalist Nicky Hager, admitting it was wrong to give his bank account information to police. Police requested the information in 2014 as part of an investigation into Mr Hager’s book Dirty Politics. Westpac accepts it should not have provided the information without a court order. The bank’s practice at the
Mark Taylor, the Kiwi recruit to ISIS, ultimately put himself in the hands of the Kurdish forces in northern Syria. That was smart of him, and/or lucky. The Kurds seem to be the only forces offering anything like due process to their ISIS captives, and have refused to impose the death penalty on them. As the
