Summary of Conclusions
1. A nation is a community united by descent or history and by a distinct language and culture.
2. The enlightened state may encourage its several national identities and at the same time seek to build the new common national identity. Such a policy is not contradictory, but rather a means of maintaining an equilibrium under which the respective benefits of diversity and societal order around agreed values may be realised. If the purpose of encouraging contrary tendencies is recognised, then Governments will detect the point at which that balance has moved too far in either direction.
3. To the extent that some citizens languish outside the majority societal culture, and that the alternative culture to which they belong goes unrecognised and unsupported by the institutions of state, they are correspondingly deprived of meaningful freedom, whatever theoretical equality is guaranteed to them by formal constitutional law.
4. The constitutional status of New Zealand citizens of Pacific Island origin is one shared with all New Zealand citizens of whatever origin, and will entitle all citizens to the same rights and obligations.
5. Formal legal equality does not always translate into equal enjoyment of social benefits such as health, education, or housing. Where serious and persistent imbalances in the enjoyment of such benefits by minority groups as compared to the wider society can be demonstrated, domestic law as well as international norms and practice permits Government to consider community-specific initiatives aimed at progressively reducing the gaps.
6. Two features distinguish the six Pacific Island communities chosen for this study:
(i) An historical, geographical, and (in three cases) a current constitutional relationship between the homelands and New Zealand.
(ii) A significant, and growing, proportion of the total national population of the homelands is resident in New Zealand.
7. The history of New Zealand's engagement in the South Pacific has created at least a moral obligation to support the island nations of the region in the preservation of their cultures. This supportive role will best be discharged by viewing these cultures in an holistic manner - that is, in viewing the culture situated in the homeland and that situated in New Zealand as two parts of a whole.
1. New Zealand enthusiastically pursued an expansionist policy within the South Pacific a century ago. It energetically sought the encompassing of the territories and populations by a New Zealand governance and actively recruited immigrant island labour as required by the New Zealand economy. It also repeatedly assured both the Pacific people and the world of its good intentions and of the benefits that would accrue to the populations concerned from adherence to the New Zealand state.
2. It is important that the elements of this historical relationship between New Zealand and the peoples of the six countries studied, and the history of the decolonisation process, be better documented and understood within New Zealand.
1. The constitutional relationship between New Zealand and the six countries studied in this report can be stated briefly. In respect of Fiji and Tonga there is no constitutional relationship, but rather an international relationship between friendly neighbouring sovereign states in conformity with international law and the comity of nations. The same is true of the relationship with Samoa, subject to the special relationship.
2. In respect of the Cook Islands, Niue, and the Tokelau Islands, it is proper to describe the relationship as having constitutional elements. In particular, it is necessary in these cases to understand concepts fundamental to the historical evolution of the British Empire into the association of independent states known in more recent times as the Commonwealth.
1. Pacific people comprise approximately 6% of the population, and over half of those are New Zealand born.
2. Pacific people have low health status compared to the general population, and many of the problems suffered are preventable.
3. The ability to speak Pacific languages is diminishing among Pacific people in New Zealand, particularly younger people.
4. Pacific people are more likely to leave school with no qualifications, and less likely to pursue further education or training.
5. Pacific people in the workforce are concentrated in low skilled jobs, and the number of Pacific people unemployed is approximately double that of other New Zealanders. A significant proportion of the income of Pacific people comprises Government benefits, and the mean annual income of Pacific people is lower than that of other New Zealanders.
6. Pacific people are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In particular, Pacific men are seven times more likely to be convicted for a violent offence than other New Zealand men.
1. Where discrimination can be demonstrated, remedies will be available to individual persons of Pacific Island origin from New Zealand Tribunals and Courts under the anti-discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act 1993 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. These Acts cover both directly prohibited discrimination and indirect discrimination.
2. Denial of the Rights of Minorities is contrary to section 20 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
3. As a state party to the CERD, ICCPR and ICESR, New Zealand is obligated to ensure that remedies are provided such as to secure to New Zealand citizens of Pacific Island origin and to all others in New Zealand the rights set out in those instruments. New Zealand is obligated to report periodically on its performance in this regard, and to submit its record to international scrutiny.
4. In the case of the ICCPR, individual persons of Pacific Island origin in New Zealand may complain (by way of communication) under the Optional Protocol to the Human Rights Committee in regard to any alleged failure to meet the standards of that Covenant. A complainant must first exhaust domestic remedies. The state may justify any acts or omissions complained of by demonstrating that they are reasonably required by objective conditions.
1. New Zealand has a special relationship with Pacific people, deriving from a combination of historical, constitutional, geographic and demographic factors. This is not a hard core legal obligation, but rather part of the Government's responsibility to act reasonably and appropriately towards the individuals and groups whom it governs, recognising that Pacific people are a significant group in this respect.
2. The special relationship is a generic one that exists in respect of all the Pacific nations discussed in the report.
3. The special relationship manifests itself in a need to protect and foster Pacific cultures and identities, and a need to recognise that Pacific people should have the same socio-economic opportunities as non-Pacific people. This is already recognised by Government through a number of institutional structures.
4. New Zealand also has a responsibility towards Pacific people as a minority group under international law, through Article 27 of the ICCPR, which is incorporated into domestic law through section 20 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. International legal norms are moving in favour of a positive duty on the part of States to create conditions favourable to the manifestation of minority cultural identities including language. This underlines the need for New Zealand to continue to be proactive in maintaining the cultural identities of Pacific people.
5. When making laws and policies it is important that the Government recognises the need to maintain Pacific cultures and language, the need to bridge the socio-economic gaps between Pacific people and other New Zealanders, and the need to involve Pacific people in decision making, particularly in relation to decisions about themselves.
