Clark unfazed by UN drubbing
21 August 2007 The Prime Minister is dismissing a UN report critical of the way her government is handling Maori and treaty issues. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said the government was diminishing the importance and relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi. It said the policy of scrapping any programme which could be said to be based on ethnicity had created a context unfavourable to the rights of Maori. Helen Clark says the criticism was coming from a body which doesn't have the status of the Security Council of General Assembly. "It comes from a committee which is not populated by ambassadors or even representatives of countries. It’s people drawn from different walks of life in particular counties, and it’s clear when you look at what countries who have (quote) "experts" on it that New Zealand’s human rights record would stand up extremely well against all of them," she says. Ms Clark says the report does contain some worthwhile suggestions which the government will take on board. |