The Maori in New Zealand
History
The Maori are Indigenous people of New Zealand that arrived there more than 1000 years
ago from an island in Eastern Polynesia. Known as the “Great Fleet”, the first Maori
immigrated to New Zealand on canoes and formed their own unique culture, language
and traditions, once they had settled. In 1642, A Dutch explorer (Able Tasman) first
recorded sighting NZ but did not colonise it then. Later on, it was in 1769 that the first
Europeans arrived and charted NZ. The arrival of Europeans had quite an impact on the
Maori as many of them became Christians and learned how to read and trade. However,
within 10 years, the British East India Company had extended their charter to include NZ.
Wars and disputes started off and with the uprising on the North Island in 1845, the New
Zealand Wars had begun. However, due to warfare and the spread of disease, the Maori
population declined.
It was the improvement of civilization, health, and education that helped raise the Maori
birth rate once again. Today, there are more than 680,000 Maori in NZ (14% of the total
population), and many of their culture and traditions, as well as their language are
promoted throughout the country. 1
Culture
Within the Māori community, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole,
the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori culture, the
maori suffix -tanga being roughly equivalent to the qualitative noun ending "-ness" in
English.[1] There have been three distinct but overlapping cultural eras—before
widespread European contact, the 1800s in which Māori began interacting with European
visitors and settlers, and the modern era since the beginning of the 20th century. Culture
in the modern era has been shaped by increasing urbanism, closer contact with New
Zealanders of European descent and revival of traditional practices.
In regard to Pōwhiri, a Māori welcoming ceremony involving speeches, dancing, singing
and finally the hongi, which is done by pressing one's nose and forehead (at the same
1
http://www.lovenewzealand.net.nz/maori/history.php
time) to another person at an encounter. In the hongi, the ha (or breath of life), is
exchanged and intermingled. The breath of life can also be interpreted as the sharing of
both parties' souls.
Tā moko is the permanent body and face marking. One great distinction between it and
tattoo is that Tā moko leaves the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface. In preEuropean Māori culture, many if not most high-ranking persons received moko, and those
who went without them were seen as persons of lower social status. Receiving moko
constituted an important milestone between childhood and adulthood, and was
accompanied by many rites and rituals. Apart from signalling status and rank, another
reason for the practice in traditional times was to make a person more attractive to the
opposite sex. Men generally received moko on their faces, buttocks and thighs. Women
usually wore moko on their lips and chins.
Since 1987, Maori language has been one of New Zealand's official languages, among
English and new Zealand sign language. Māori gained this status with the passing of the
Maori Language Act 1987. However according to a 2001 survey on the health of the
Māori language, the number of very fluent adult speakers was about 9% of the Māori
population, or 30,000 adults.[2] A national census undertaken in 2006 says that about 4%
of the New Zealand population, or 23.7% of the Māori population, could hold a
conversation in Māori about everyday things.
In terms of urbanism. Once a Warrior, a 1994 film by Alan Duff brought the plight of some
urban Māori to a wide audience. It was the highest-grossing film in New Zealand until
2006[3] and received international acclaim, winning several international film prizes. While
some Māori feared that viewers would consider the violent male characters an accurate
portrayal of Māori men, most critics praised it as exposing the raw side of domestic
violence. Some Māori opinion, particularly feminist, welcomed the debate on domestic
violence that the film enabled.
[1] Glossary. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. ew Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga.
Retrieved 19 November 2016.
[2] "2001 Survey on the health of the Māori language". Statistics New Zealand. 2001. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
[3] Baillie, Russell (24 January 2006). "Other NZ hits eat dust of 'Fastest Indian'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22
August 2009
The Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand which was signed on 6th
February 1840 by British representatives of the Crown and the Maori tribe chiefs.2[1]
Despite initially resisting European settlers in the 17th century, the Maori people joined the
covenant of this Treaty to become part of the British Colony whereby they attained the
rights enjoyed by the British citizens. In return, a new nation state was created and a
government was built in New Zealand to alleviate the differences between the traditional
Maori culture of the indigenous people and the newcomers from Europe.3 The rights arising from this Treaty are disputed due to the English/Maori translation.
According to the English version, the Maori cede the sovereignty of New Zealand to
Britain and the Maori give the Crown an exclusive right to buy lands they wish to sell and,
in return, are guaranteed full rights of ownership of their lands, forests, fisheries, and
other possessions. However, the Maori translation of the Treaty did not convey
“sovereignty” but “governance” instead, allowing them to retain the right to manage their
own affairs but giving up authority over some of the land and over the new settlers.
Further, the English version stipulates a guarantee of “undisturbed possession” of all
properties, but the Maori version guarantees “full authority” over “treasures” which may
include intangible things.
The treaty has never been ratified or enacted as statute law in New Zealand, but there are
certain principles referred to in Acts of Parliament. Since 1840 governments have taken
actions that have resulted in the alienation of Māori land, waters and other resources from
their owners, generally without proper consent or compensation. The Maori community
have called for the terms of the Treaty to be honoured in Kiwi law by partaking in protests.
Recent governments have recognised that the way some land transactions took place
was unjust and left a strong sense of grievance with the original owners and their
descendants.4 In response to alleged breaches of the Treaty, the Labour government
passed the Treaty of Waitangi Act in 1975 which set up the Waitangi Tribunal to
investigate land claims and related matters. It further has the ability to make
recommendations to government to remove prejudice and provide recompense. Since
1985 the tribunal has been able to consider Crown acts and omissions dating back to
2http://libertyandhumanity.com/themes/environment/maori-and-human-rights-in-new-zealand
(11/04/17)
3 http://minorityrights.org/minorities/maori/ (11/04/17)
4
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-faqs
1840. This has provided Māori with means to have their grievances against the actions of
past governments investigated.5[4] However, in practice the Tribunal has not been as
effective as initially hoped. It has no binding authority and may only make
recommendations to the Crown. This means that the verdicts of the tribunal may be
overlooked and ignored as in the instance of the foreshore and seabed dispute.
Constitutional Rights of the Maori
New Zealand does not have a constitution that is written down in one place. Instead it is
built up by a number of different sources such as several legal documents, common law
established by court decisions, different statues-both New Zealand ones and old English
ones tracing back all the way to the Magna Carta (1297).
One of the most important sources that is included in the constitution is the Treaty of
Waitangi, it is seen as a founding document of government in New Zealand.6
Another important part of the constitution is the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (1990),
where article 19 provides the freedom of discrimination according to the Human Rights
Act (1993) and article 20 stipulates the right of minorities to have freedom of culture,
practise of religion and of language.7
The Maori has had the right to vote in New Zealand since 1867, the first parliamentary
election was held in 1853. To be able to vote people had to be male, aged 21 or over and
owners of property worth a moderate amount of money. Since most Maoris owned land
collectively they weren’t able to vote. In 1867 four Maori seats were established by the
New Zealand parliament in order to give the Maori a direct say in the parliament. Since
1975 people of Maori descent can choose if they want to enrol in general or Maori seats,
before Maori voters could only enrol in the Maori roll. Since 1993 the number of Maori
seats in the parliament are determined according to the size of the Maori electoral
population. Since this change was made there are now seven Maori seats in the
Parliament.8
5
6
7
8
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-faqs (11/04/17)
https://gg.govt.nz/role/constofnz.htm (2017-04-11)
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225521 (2017-04-11)
http://www.elections.org.nz/voting-system/maori-representation (2017-04-11)
International Rights of the Maori
New Zealand endorsed the Un Declaration of Indigenous People in 2010. The declaration
recognizes indigenous peoples rights to choose their own future and identity, and the right
to approve and receive consent regarding projects that affect them. New Zealand is also
part of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD) and of the UN Minority Rights Declaration.
Possible issues for the Maori
(1)
Identity
Art 1 of the UN Minority Rights Declaration of 19929 provides that ‘States shall protect the
existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities
within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that
identity.’ Thus, New Zealand have a duty to encourage the promotion of the Maori
identity. However, efforts to advance Maori society are not regarded as discrimination
under Art 19 of the Bill of Rights. Art 19 states that ‘Measures taken in good faith for the
purpose of assisting or advancing persons or groups of persons disadvantaged because
of discrimination that is unlawful by virtue of Part 2 of the Human Rights Act 1993 do not
constitute discrimination.’ There is also a Minister for Maori Development, who was called
the Minister for Maori Affairs up until 2014. The change in the name suggests the Maori
population needs to develop in New Zealand. Due to efforts to advance the Maori
population, this indicates that New Zealand are not encouraging the promotion of the
Maori cultural identity. Rather, it appears that the government are trying to move the
Maori away from its traditions and into modern society.
(2)
Administration of Justice
Art 4.1 of UN Minority Rights Declaration and Article 9.1 of International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights states that everyone has a right to liberty.
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities (1992)
9
However, a 2007 report by the Department of Corrections shows the over-representation
of Maori in the Criminal Justice System.10 The report found that although the Maori form
just 12.5% of the general population aged 15 and over, 42% of all criminal apprehensions
involve a person identifying as Maori. In addition to this, 50% of all persons in prison
identify as Maori. This is increased to 60% when examining the female prison
population.11 It is not clear if this over-representation results from socio-economic factors
which increase the likelihood of involvement in criminal activity or from bias in the justice
system. The report found that relatively minor biasing influences could combine to
produce quite substantial effects. However, realistically it cannot be said that the justice
system bias is the sole cause of the Maori rates of imprisonment.
(3)
Racism
There is condemnation of racism under International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, Article 2 (UN 1965).
Racism is found in New Zealand institutions — the Churches, Education, Government,
Housing, Health Services, the Legal System and so on.12 The white majority has ensured
that its values and social mores are legally entrenched in the laws of the land.13
(4)
Land & Property Rights
Government refusal to acknowledge indigenous land claims is a persistent struggle for the
Maori community. Such was the case with the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, which
attempted to abrogate Maori claim to the foreshore and seabed, which holds spiritual as
well as economic significance for Maori. The act sought both to place this land under the
state’s ownership and to abolish the Maori Land Court’s authority to determine customary
land claims. Charters’ defence urged the government to resume a dialogue with Maori to
lessen the legislation’s discriminatory effects, including through legislative amendment,
but the government rejected the proposals.14
(5)
Education & Language
Over-representation of Māori in the criminal justice system: An exploratory report (September,
2007). found at: http://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/672574/Overrepresentation-of-Maori-in-the-criminal-justice-system.pdf
11 http://wilpf.org/racial-discrimination-in-new-zealand-maori-at-the-heart-of-the-debate/
12 http://wilpf.org/racial-discrimination-in-new-zealand-maori-at-the-heart-of-the-debate/
13
https://www.ibiblio.org/ahkitj/wscfap/arms1974/Book%20Series/TheImageOfGodIM/IOGIMmaoripeople.htm
10
https://www.ibiblio.org/ahkitj/wscfap/arms1974/Book%20Series/TheImageOfGodIM/IOGIMmaoripeople.htm
14
Article 14.1 of United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as
Article 4.3 UN Minority Rights Declaration, protects the right that persons belonging to
minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have
instruction in their mother tongue.
Teaching of Maori language and culture are recent developments as in years before
Maori language and culture would not be widely taught in schools.15 The Waitangi
Tribunal had concluded that the education system in New Zealand is operating
unsuccessfully stating thus, the education system was being operated in breach of the
Treaty of Waitang.16
Lack of Maori schools can lead to the feeling of alienation for children as they are having
to go to ‘Pakeha’ (white New Zealanders) schools, leads to a loss of culture.17
(6)
Social & Economic Disadvantages
The lack of education leads to a higher rate of unemployment i.e. unemployment rates
remain three times higher than that of Pakeha. Also, young Maori, are disproportionately
represented among the unemployed population.18
Lack of education can also lead to poverty, diverse social problems such as alcoholism
and the use of drugs and to an overrepresentation of Maori in jails; which all in in turn
have devastating effects on how the Maori are perceived by the rest of the population. 19
New Constitutional Rights
1.
A
written
Constitution.
We believe that New Zealand should have a whole new written constitution since their
current one is not located in one place which makes it difficult for the citizens of New
Zealand to know their fundamental rights and how to enforce them.
Former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey has debated the problem regarding that New Zealand
does not have a written constitution. He says, “It is unsurprising then that New Zealanders
speak little of their constitution and think about it even less. Indeed, it might seem that the
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/working-towards-maoriequality
16 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SutMaor-t1-body-d12.html
17 http://talktreaty.org.nz/
18http://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/otago067742.pdf
19 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SutMaor-t1-body-d12.html
15
constitution is deliberately kept something of a mystery so people will not bother about
it.20
The new constitution should include several of the sources that are already part of the
current constitution. These are especially the right to freedom of discrimination and the
right of minorities to have freedom of culture, practise of religion and of language, but also
some of the principles of The Treaty of Waitangi, demanding equal rights for the Maori
citizens. We believe that these rights will gain more value and authority if they are all
written down in the same document, which will later have a positive effect on the life
quality of the Maori citizens.
The preamble of the new constitution will begin with these words:
“We the people of New Zealand, in order to provide freedom, equality, justice and
wellbeing in our country, are recognizing these rights as they stipulated in this
Constitution to all of the national citizens of New Zealand”
2. Securing health service.
The nation should shoulder the responsibility that extends beyond the provision of
essential health services of the Maori to tackling the prerequisites as well as determinants
of health, such as provision of adequate education, housing, food, and favourable working
conditions.
3. Securing participation in political decision making in the local level
Considering the participation of political decision making of Maori, their participation at the
local level is not secured, for the number of Maori elected to the local government is only
5%. Although the Local Government Act of 2002 (a measure to facilitate participation of
Maori) was put into force, no local council have established any kind of electoral
arrangements for Maori under the Act. 21Therefore the Government must establish some
kind of measurement in order to secure the Maori participation within the local political
field.
4. Preservation of the Maori language within the education system i.e. choice to be
educated fully in Maori language.
20https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/lawtalk/lawtalk‐archives/issue‐890/towards‐a‐written‐
constitution‐for‐new‐zealand(2017‐04‐11)
21
http://unsr.jamesanaya.org/docs/countries/2011-report-newzealand-a-hrc-18-35-add4_en.pdf
We believe a right should be instilled within the Constitution which expressly promotes
and facilitates for the Maori language and culture to be preserved within the education
system. This is due to the fact there were criticisms previously from the Waitangi Tribunal
who stated how, the education system in New Zealand was failing as, “Maori children are
not being successfully taught, and for that reason alone, quite apart from the duty to
protect the Maori language, the education system is being operated in breach of the
Treaty of Waitang.” In addition to this, Article 14.1 of United Nations’ Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as Article 4.3 UN Minority Rights Declaration
expressly protects the right that persons belonging to minorities may have adequate
opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue.
Therefore, if this right is stated as a right under the new Constitution, the New Zealand
government will be under a direct obligation to ensure they facilitate for this; for example,
through increasing the number of Maori schools, providing more funding for these
schools, and perhaps also offering Maori schools at secondary level and higher education
as there are currently no special schools for Maori secondary school pupils.
5. Greater representation of the Maori population in institutions within the justice system,
proportionate to their representation within the population.
Within the institutions of the justice system we believe there should be greater
representation of the Maori population. Having the Maori population represented in these
roles could reduce any discrimination that exists within system. The over-representation
of the Maori population in the justice system can be attributed to the individual's’ life
experiences and circumstances. However, statistics from apprehension through
prosecution to conviction and sentencing affirm that the Maori are more likely to be
apprehended and more severely punished than non-Maori.22 Although much of this
difference is due to reasons that relate to disadvantage rather than ethnicity, at key
stages there is evidence of a degree of over-representation that relates to ethnicity. Thus,
Over-representation of Māori in the criminal justice system: An exploratory report (September,
2007). found at: http://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/672574/Overrepresentation-of-Maori-in-the-criminal-justice-system.pdf
22
the two views (justice system bias and social disadvantage) are not clearly separate and
hence it must be accepted that both offer important explanations for the overrepresentation. Although wider contextual factors affect the crime rates, increased
representation would ensure that the Maori would not be directly targeted by institutions,
ensuring equality throughout the system.
6. Enforcing an effective mechanism to ensure communications between the Maori
community and the government regarding decisions affecting the indigenous
community/culture
The Maori community require a means of communication whereby they can express
concerns and put forward suggestions regarding governmental decisions which have a
direct effect on the Maori culture. This should apply mainly to actions relating to the sealand and property rights of the Maori community. The Waitangi Tribunal has, in the past,
attempted to reconcile the problems of unjustified removal of property rights from the
Maori to the Crown, but it is necessary to implement a legally binding system to ensure
the Maori are able to effectively contribute to the Kiwi government decisions.