The Human Rights Foundation promotes and defends human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad, through research-based education and advocacy.
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
Nicky Hager’s lawyer is calling on New Zealand’s spy agencies to implement more thorough safety checks after it was yesterday announced the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service illegally spied on the journalist. Yesterday, it was announced that the acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security upheld a complaint by Mr Hager against the spy agency for acting
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
The UK is plunging into ever-deeper political dysfunction. Could we suffer the same fate? If so, how can we prevent it? Many political, economic and social trends over recent decades have significantly changed British society and created widening rifts in it. But the political system failed to change with the country. For some semblance of
Torture is a crime under international law. New Zealand has signed (a) the UN convention against torture and (b) formal agreements about how armed conflict should be conducted. That’s the legal backdrop to the fascinating report released this week by the SIS Inspector-General. The report investigates the role of New Zealand’s security services in the CIA’s illegal
OPINION: There’s an iconic black and white photo of the 1980 Māori Language protest march to parliament, taken just as the marchers turn into Willis St from Mercer St. It’s been raining and marchers are wearing coats and jackets, a few clutch umbrellas and others hold banners. One woman is walking with her arms crossed as she
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
