The state of the Maori in New Zealand was the focus of UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, during his visit to the country November 16-25. After meeting with an array of government and Maori representatives, Stavenhagen reported that social and economic gaps between Maori and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European descent) were not being closed fast enough, and that better ethnic-based data was necessary in order to develop social policy. Stavenhagen’s visit was prompted by a finding by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that New Zealand’s 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act was discriminatory. Stavenhagen’s draft recommendations will be forwarded to the New Zealand government early next year and made public in April 2006. New Zealand is due to make a report this year to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
