GUEST BLOG: Maire Leadbeater – Our Government is wrong to attack the UN Special Rapporteur for doing his job.

Deputy Prime Minister, David Seymour, has been ticked off for responding to Dr Albert Kwokwo Barume, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People.   He got the protocol wrong and should have left the response to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  

But that is a distraction, what is important here is that our government seems to think it is fair game to discredit the Special Rapporteur. Prime Minister Luxon called Barume’s letter ‘a waste of time’ and said his comments were ‘without substance’. 

Dr Karume had written to our government expressing concern about potential breaches of Te Tiriti rights and the Regulatory Standards Bill.  Both Seymour and Luxon have hit back by treading on the mana of the Special Rapporteur. Our government has endorsed the International Declaration on the rights of Indigenous people.  Under that declaration the Special Rapporteur is specifically mandated under the Declaration to hear complaints and make recommendations.  Māori leaders, fearing erosion of Treaty rights, have taken their concerns to UN forums, as is their right and responsibility.  Dr Barume was simply doing the job he has been tasked with and attacking him is effectively a blow against the Declaration and the UN that stands behind it.    

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said recently that indigenous people are the ‘the preeminent stewards of the world’s biodiversity and the environment’.  So, it is alarming that the Regulatory Standards Bill ignores Te Tiriti while downgrading the responsibility of Government to regulate to protect the environment. 

Dr Barume has not been in post long, but he clearly stands firmly with the marginalised. He has just visited Indonesian controlled West Papua.  It was a brief visit but potentially   a significant breakthrough.  In 2018 Indonesia agreed to accept a visit to West Papua from the UN High Commissioner but has been stalling ever since on facilitating the visit. While the UN and international journalists have been excluded the world has been blind to Indonesia’s military occupation and the human rights abuses and mass displacement that results.

Since Indonesia took control of West Papua in 1963 it has exploited the territory’s rich resources of copper and gold and pristine tropical forest.  All this has been accompanied by a transmigration programme of settlers from elsewhere in Indonesia. Currently, plans are afoot to embark on a vast agribusiness project involving the clearing of some three million hectares destroying ecosystems and forests while displacing traditional landowners.

Dr Barume listened to the testimony of human rights victims, met with NGOs and local politicians, and stressed that his job was to amplify the voices of indigenous peoples, and uphold the right to life.  He will be reporting back to the Human Rights Council, and this may pave the way for a more comprehensive UN monitoring visit. 

If  Seymour and Luxon are  not familiar with the role and responsibilities of Special Rapporteurs, it is time they  learnt.  They are all exceptionally well qualified in the specific aspect of law related to their role and have unusual freedom to express their views.  The UN does not pay them but gives them logistic support from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva.

In this age of authoritarian leaders, rapporteurs often face threats – former Philippine President Roderigo Duterte threatened Rapporteur Agnes Callamard with physical violence when she challenged his ‘war on drugs’ campaign.    The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Palestine Rapporteur Francesca Albanese who advocates for international legal accountability for the companies and officials whose material support for the genocide in Gaza has been well documented.  

It is a truism to say that the United Nations is only as strong as the political will of the nations it represents.   So, its failure to end a live-filmed genocide in Palestine, famine in Sudan or rampaging climate change is tragic.  However, United Nations Special Rapporteurs and their freedom to speak as they find are beacons of hope. They and the people they represent deserve better from our government.

Maire Leadbeater is the sister of the late Keith Locke and is one of the most important human rights activists in NZ.

West Papua Action Tamaki Makaurau