Preface
The Ministry of Justice convenes a Pacific peoples Focus Group. This group is an external advisory body comprising people of Pacific descent with in-depth experience in working with Pacific peoples, and recognised expertise in areas related to Justice. The Focus Group challenged the Ministry to articulate the nature of the special relationship shared between Pacific peoples and New Zealand, and to locate Pacific peoples within the constitutional framework of New Zealand. The Focus Group envisaged that such a location would reflect the nature of the relationship between New Zealand and Pacific peoples and the implications of this relationship for Pacific peoples and the New Zealand government. The group also envisaged that such a location would depict Pacific peoples as having a status and relationship with the New Zealand government that is distinct from other immigrant groups.
The underlying impetus motivating the Focus Group's call for this work is a concern for the well-being of current and future generations of Pacific peoples in New Zealand. Current and future generations of Pacific peoples require a clear platform from which to meaningfully interact with government on issues that affect them, and participate in the social, economic and political arenas of New Zealand society. The composition of this platform will reflect the historical and contemporary relationships between New Zealand and Pacific nations and peoples. Many Pacific peoples view New Zealand as 'home' and this is likely to increase with future generations of Pacific peoples in New Zealand.
Disparities between the social and economic position of Pacific peoples and the rest of the New Zealand population are evident, and in many areas glaring. Government is demonstrating its commitment to addressing these disparities and this is evidenced by the Government's work-programme for Closing the Gaps. The Pacific Focus Group applauds the current Government's commitment and is concerned to ensure that the well-being of Pacific peoples in New Zealand continues to be addressed by successive governments both as a priority, and as a matter of course.
Pacific people in New Zealand collectively benefit from the rights of minority groups recognised in international law under Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, incorporated into New Zealand law through section 20 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. In that sense there is a special constitutional role for the relationship with Pacific Island people in New Zealand and the New Zealand Government has legal constitutional obligations in respect of Pacific people. On top of this legal status as a minority group, Pacific people have a special relationship with New Zealand, deriving from a range of unique historical, demographic and geographic factors which are detailed in this report. This gives rise to a moral obligation on the part of the New Zealand Government to advance the interests of Pacific people, in particular to address their socio-economic needs and the need to maintain their cultures.
This document is an attempt to trace the involvement and contribution of successive New Zealand governments to the present situation and circumstances of Pacific people, and to draw from this and from the international legal context a framework for conducting and informing interactions between the New Zealand government and Pacific peoples in New Zealand.
Colin Keating
Fuimaono Les McCarthy
Chief Executive and Secretary for Justice Chief
Executive
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs
