This coming weekend we exercise our civil and political right to a fair and democratic election. Voting is fundamental to our understanding of democracy and human rights. And yet there are other human rights which have the equivalent status of civil and political rights, but they are less spoken about as rights in New Zealand. … Continue reading Carmel Williams: Human rights extend beyond the right to vote into social issues
More than a century after New Zealand women won the vote, they continue to exercise the right more than men Today is Suffrage Day, marking 124 years since the Governor, Lord Glasgow, approved the bill to allow virtually all women to vote. In the general election held later that year, 1893, the voting turnout was … Continue reading NZ Herald: Women outstrip men at the ballot box, starting after first Suffrage Day
The Government won't start an inquiry into a raid by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan, despite the pleas from parents who say their girl was killed during the operation. Their daughter Fatima's death was revealed in the book Hit & Run, which said New Zealand special forces led a raid targeting insurgents who had killed a Kiwi soldier … Continue reading Stuff: No Hit & Run raid inquiry despite dead girl’s parents’ demand
The Crown and descendants of Rua Kēnana and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira me ngā uri o Maungapōhatu will sign the agreement at Maungapōhatu on Saturday 9 September which bring the statutory pardon a step closer to reality. Mr Flavell and whānau of Rua Kēnana met in Rotorua today ahead of the historic signing … Continue reading Te Ururoa Flavell: Rua Kēnana pardon details released
Truth, it is said, is the first casualty of war. And during the 16 years of the war in Afghanistan, truths have been trampled on and obliterated as much as in any other global conflict over the past century.
National Party police spokeswoman Paula Bennett had a relatively simple job to do on Sunday – get up and make a policy statement which included a previously-announced plan to separate drug-dealing gang members from their guns. Instead, apparently in her enthusiasm to beat the law-and-order drum in an election campaign, Bennett ended up declaring that … Continue reading Press – ‘Editorial: Human rights are for all, including gang members’
In New Zealand at present, a seismic shift is under way. Despite all the hype, this election is not really a contest between left and right. Instead, the tectonic plates between the generations are shifting.
The Defence Force stands by the findings of its official investigation but accepts friendly fire may have played a bigger role in a deadly firefight in Afghanistan in 2012. Two New Zealanders and four Afghans were killed in the Battle of Baghak, the subject of a Stuff documentary series The Valley, in which Afghan soldiers … Continue reading Radio NZ: ‘NZDF admits ‘alternate possibilities’ in 2012 Afghan firefight’
Our work is in this week’s LawTalk: A Law Foundation-backed project is helping ease concerns among New Zealand’s Muslim community about their treatment by security authorities. The Human Rights Foundation project has been prompted by complaints about the treatment of Muslims in airport security checks and in their interactions with the SIS in particular. They claim to have experienced unjustifiably excessive scrutiny and cultural insensitivity in their dealings with border officials. Human Rights Foundation chairperson Peter Hosking says the project team has compiled a dossier of anecdotes from New Zealand Muslims about their experiences with the authorities. Read more at LawTalk More information about research funded by the Foundation can be found here.
A judge has opened the door for Teina Pora to get an inflation allowance on more than $2 million of his compensation package for being wrongly convicted of murder.
