United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Intervention

Contributions to the Pacific Caucus

(by Te Rnanga o Te Rarawa, Aotearoa, New Zealand)
Contact: Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn: catherinedavis@hotmail.co.nz
13th SESSION
New York 12-23 May 2014
ITEM 3: Special theme: Principles of good governance consistent with the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: articles 3 to 6 and 46.
RECOMMENDATIONS
On Constitutional Transformation
1. That the Permanent Forum calls upon the New Zealand Government to meaningfully
progress in a timely way the transformation of its constitutional arrangements, based on
Te Tiriti o Waitangi 1840 (Te Tiriti), and compliant with internationally recognised human
rights standards and New Zealand's corresponding obligations.
On Economic Transformation
2. That the Permanent Forum calls upon the New Zealand Government to, in alignment with
human, Indigenous Peoples and environmental rights, take concrete and timely steps
towards the design and implementation of a truly equitable economy,1 including that it:
a. conduct a comprehensive independent review of the social, cultural, environmental
and economic impacts of the neo-liberalist 'free-market' economy, with consideration
of what a fair distribution of wealth in New Zealand ought to look like, and what the
economic mechanisms are for achieving that;
b. provide meaningful assistance to Mori to create local food, energy, water,
knowledge, health, social and other securities2;
c. develop and implement a genuine progress index or framework as a true means of
measuring wellbeing of their citizens, including Mori;
1

In addition to Indigenous Peoples models, see Edgar Cahn, Building the Core Economy, at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4deABsB3TBU; and Noam Chomsky, How to Ruin an Economy, at
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D6mhj-j0zfk&sa=U&ei=dqJpU_jzOo-fugTvhIG4Cw&ved=0CAYQFjAA&client=internal-udscse&usg=AFQjCNEQG3OAGPxF_n-LXzFR3MHU0x5rQA.
For more ideas see http://www.scribd.com/doc/114372672/The-Quest-for-Happiness-and-Freedom and
http://www.doingitourselves.org/what-economic-crisis-really-means-and-what-we-can-do-about-it.

d. conduct an urgent independent inquiry into the issue of equitable setting of

corporate tax rates and State enforcement of corporate tax payments;
e. cease and desist all negotiations about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), unless
and until fair and meaningful engagement with Mori about the TPP (including
the immediate release of the full text of the TPP currently under negotiation) is
concluded.
2. That the Permanent Forum requests that the ILO integrate into its work program with
Indigenous Peoples, relevant UN Agencies and States:
a. research into the nature and extent of the phenomenon of technological
redundancy and its impact on Indigenous Peoples; as well as
b. the issue of creating more equitable distribution of wealth.
MR CHAIR,
On Constitutional Transformation
3. Last year, the New Zealand Governments Constitutional Advisory Panel released its final
report3 detailing a range of constitutional issues and recommending a number of actions
to facilitate strengthening NZs constitutional arrangements. However, Mori have
criticised the report for failing to recognise Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) as the rightful
basis for constitutional change in Aotearoa, with its recommendations falling short in
terms of protecting Mori values and the values of Aotearoa.
4. Of particular concern to Mori is the lack of effective constitutional protections, not only
for human and Indigenous Peoples' responsibilities and rights, but perhaps more
importantly for Mother Earth.4 Considering the inherent and fundamental link between
environmental and human wellbeing, environmental protection alone is a game-changer
for the realisation of Indigenous Peoples fundamental freedoms. More than this, the
imperative to protect Mother Earth has moved beyond the need to simply maintain
3

Titled A Report on a Conversation: He Ktuinga Krero m Te Kaupapa Ture o Aotearoa (176 pages):
Downloadable at http://www.ourconstitution.org.nz/store/doc/FR_Full_Report.pdf .
4
Ref Article 29 of the Declaration: Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the
environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and
implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection without
discrimination.

sustainable resource management practices, or respect Indigenous Peoples deep affinity

with nature. Protection of the biosphere and the diversity of all remaining life forms is an
issue of SURVIVAL for all humanity. There are many instruments which provide
examples for us to consider such as the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother
Earth, 2010 and the Bolivian Constitution 2009.5
5. Meanwhile, the Mori Independent Constitutional Working Group (CWG), Matike Mai
Aotearoa,6 is producing a draft report on Mori constitutional issues and
recommendations on how to address them. The CWGs draft report will pay particular
attention to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Indigenous Peoples rights as set out in the
Declaration, and will form the basis of a series of consultations with Mori in the coming
months.
On Economic Transformation
6. Mori, the wider New Zealand society, and indeed citizens globally,7 are increasingly
alarmed with the failed debt-based, neo-liberalistic economy.8 There is a litany of welldocumented evidence which places the issue beyond dispute including:
a. the rise of plutocracy9 and corporatocracy10 resulting in the unconstitutional and
disproportionate influence and control over State legislative and policy decisionmaking;
b. a corresponding diminishment of ordinary citizens ability to exercise (1) their
personal authority as freely determining human beings, and (2) their collective
authority and control over the State government which (in a democracy at least) is
meant to exist to serve the People;
c. a succession of post-industrialist-era oil, technology, housing and other contrived
boom and bust cycles leading to the systematic transfer and consolidation of wealth

For a wikipedia summary, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Bolivia.

Established in 2010 as an Iwi Leaders Group of the national Iwi Chairs Forum, and led by Moana Jackson and
Margaret Mutu. For more information, see http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/iwi.htm.
7
We note an unprecedented growing body of Indigenous Peoples and social movements world-wide: For
example, http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/, http://www.thrivemovement.com/,
http://www.occupytogether.org/getinvolved/#worktogether, http://transitionnetwork.org/ and others.
8
See http://www.scribd.com/doc/112827161/The-Need-for-a-True-and-Moral-Economy.
9
A society or a system ruled and dominated by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens.
10
An economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests.
6

and power from the 99% lower and middle classes to a relative few privileged
individuals and large corporate entities, including financial institutions;
d. innumerable examples of pathological11 corporate entity (including financial
institutions) behaviors with associated negative and often devastating effects on the
environment and human rights (Indigenous Peoples frequently being the first to be
affected, and the hardest hit). However, due to domestic and international legal and
policy arrangements, these entities often remain unaccountable for their misconduct.
7. New Zealands own Treasury Department states that,"societies in which the benefits of
growth are captured by a minority can face considerable social, economic and political
upheaval. This suggests that relative inequality, where combined with high absolute levels
of poverty and a lack of political transparency and democracy, should be a concern." 12 It
should be evident from these and other indicators, therefore, that the current economic
system is due for a major review and overhaul. This is particularly important for Mori,
as Indigenous Peoples tend to feature disproportionately in the negative socio-economic
statistics.
On a Genuine Progress Index
8. Most UN member States still use the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as their primary
measure of success.

However, the GDP mechanism is limited to economic and

monetary indicators regarding the movement of goods and services transactions

domestically and internationally. But there are many other measures of success and
wellbeing which the GDP doesnt take into account, e.g.
a. Feeling happy (ref Happiness Index used in Bhutan);
b. Being physically, mentally and emotionally well;
c. Being able to care for others;
d. The value of voluntary/ unpaid work done in society;
e. Environmental health;
f. The level of civil societys trust in their elected officials and the Government;

11

See http://www.scribd.com/doc/112293708/The-Place-of-Corporations-in-a-New-Constitution-ForAotearoa.
12
New Zealand Treasury, Working Towards Higher Living Standards for New Zealanders (May 2011), p28:
downloadable from http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/tp/higherlivingstandards.

g. The level of social stability (e.g. harmonious social relationships, and safe
communities)etc.
9. Since 2011, the New Zealand Treasury Department has recognized the need for a Living
Standards Framework that reflects a broader range of material and non-material
determinants of living standards beyond mere economic concerns such as GDP.13
However, with an ever-increasing raft of environmental, societal, technological and other
risks,14 the need to operationalize that transition is urgent for New Zealand and all nations.
A genuine progress index, more aligned with Indigenous Peoples values, provides a more
meaningful and relevant indicator of wellbeing not just for Indigenous Peoples but for
society and humanity generally, and is therefore the more superior model.
On Corporate Entity Taxation
10. The enabling of corporate entity tax avoidance and evasion (including transnational
corporations through tax havens) is of serious concern. The need for urgent tax reform is
reiterated by the UN in its World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 report which
states that:15
many countries, both developed and developing, have undertaken various
institutional reforms, including reforms inincome distribution[and] taxation.
These reforms are crucial to the rebalancing of economic structureand
improvement of macroeconomic management and financial regulation.
11. These sentiments are echoed by the World Economic Forum which identifies severe
income disparity as the global risk that respondents rated most likely to manifest over the
next 10 years.16
12. In Aotearoa, the neo-liberal, Zombie Economics idea that tax breaks for the rich would
result in more equitable trickle down wealth distribution has been a complete failure. 17
13

New Zealand Treasury, Working Towards Higher Living Standards for New Zealanders (May 2011):
downloadable from http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/tp/higherlivingstandards.
14
For a report developed from an annual survey of over 1,000 experts from industry, government, academia and
civil society on their opinion of the top 50 global risks, see Global Risks 2013 (Eighth Edition), downloadable
at http://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-2013-eighth-edition.
15
See Executive Summary, downloadable at http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/index.shtml?
utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.
16
Global Risks 2013 (Eighth Edition), p9, downloadable at http://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks2013-eighth-edition.
17
New Zealand documentary Mind the Gap, at 14:45 minutes: downloadable at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2EdGFdgTA.

Instead, the gap between the rich and the poor in New Zealand is growing faster than
most developed countries in the world.18 Recent statistics show that annual tax evasion in
New Zealand was potentially up to $5b.19 This is outright theft of badly-needed funds
that could be re-invested back into domestic initiatives for improved health care,
universal education for all, culture, environmental protection, and the protection of
Indigenous Peoples rights. It equates to the degree to which civil society subsidizes
corporate profits, and its symptomatic of the larger issue world wide of inequitable
distribution of wealth and it is a fact that Indigenous Peoples feature the most in poverty
statistics.
Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement
13. Grave concerns continue to emerge about this Trade Agreement. 20 Legal and policy
experts and other social commentators advise that if the TPPA negotiations are completed
it risks releasing a Pandoras Box of democratic and human rights violations upon New
Zealand in terms of our environment, the health sector, workers and consumers, public
use of and access to information, domestic control over law and regulation, control over
our economy, and our ability to promote the public interest.21
14. Insofar as Mori rights and interests are affected by the TPPA, the Agreement flies in the
face of the Governments Te Tiriti obligations to protect Mori rights and interests, and
violates the requirement to obtain Mori Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Generally
speaking, there is a growing concern that the TPPA is being negotiated predominantly for
the interests of plurocrats and big corporate entities - not in the interests of New Zealand
citizens.
15. We are therefore deeply disturbed that the New Zealand Government is conducting
negotiations in secret and withholding the TPPA text from New Zealanders who will be
seriously affected by the Agreement. As the other parties to the TPPA negotiations have

18

New Zealand documentary Mind the Gap, at 00:32 minutes: downloadable at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2EdGFdgTA.
19
New Zealand documentary Mind the Gap, at 22:40 minutes: downloadable at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2EdGFdgTA.
20
For example, see Its Our Future (New Zealand) at http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/.
21
For more facts related to foreign and transnational ownership and control in New Zealand (which will be
exacerbated if the TPPA is implemented), see the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoas fact site, at
http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/keyfacts.html.

access to the Agreement texts, withholding this information from the New Zealand public
cannot be justified.
On Technological Redundancy
16. Many Indigenous Peoples suffer and endure significant human rights violations relating to
sub-standard work and employment conditions every day. However, there is a related
emerging and disturbing global employment trend, which sooner or later is going to have
to be addressed. And that is the issue of technology making people redundant: in the
agriculture sector, the manufacturing sector and now even in the service sector and in the
professions, employment is ironically decreasing while production of goods and services
is actually increasing made possible by automation and technological advances. And it
is disingenuous of States to contend that they can fix unemployment while this
phenomenon continues.
17. And, as we also know, Indigenous Peoples are often the first to be affected by business
cut-backs and job redundancies, and we are over-represented in the unemployment
statistics. Put another way, its clear that while Indigenous Peoples unpaid work in our
local traditional economies is integral to Indigenous Peoples survival and wellbeing, its
not recognised and valued in the current capitalist economic system.
ENDS