Presentation at the Language Education and Development Con ference, Auckland, New Zealand, November 2011, by Joris de Bres, Race Relations Commissioner

1. Human Rights and Language
Policy
Joris de Bres
Race Relations Commissioner
Language, Education and Development Conference
University of Auckland, November 2011

2. Rights of minorities
“In those states in which
ethnic, religious or
linguistic minorities
exist, persons belonging to
such minorities shall not
be denied the right, in
community with the other
members of their
group, to enjoy their own
culture, to profess and
practice their own Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article 27
religion, or to use their
own language.”

3. NZ Bill of Rights Act
• A person who belongs to
an ethnic, religious, or
linguistic minority in New
Zealand shall not be
denied the right, in
community with other
members of that
minority, to enjoy the
culture, to profess and
practise the religion, or to
use the language, of that
minority. (Section 20)

4. Rights of Indigenous peoples
 Indigenous peoples have
the right to revitalise, use,
develop and transmit to
future generations their
histories, languages, oral
traditions, philosophies,
writing systems and
literatures, and to
designate and retain their
own names for
communities, places and
persons. (Article 13)

5. Review of Human Rights in New
Zealand 2004
• identified language as a
key priority for human
rights and race relations
• vision of a bilingual
nation by 2040 with
support for use of other
community languages
• 2005 NZ Action Plan
called for a national
languages policy

6. Human Rights Commission Initiatives
• Language Policy Network
• Monthly newsletter, Te
Waka Reo
• Annual Language Policy
Forum
• Annual Review of
language developments
• Statement on Language
Policy
• Promotion of Language
Weeks
• Facebook and YouTube

7. Statement on Language Policy
• Launched at LED in 2005
• Purpose was to provide
an elementary framework
to prioritise, implement
and monitor language
policy development in NZ
pending a more
substantive strategy

8. Statement on Language Policy
Te reo Māori
• New Zealand has a
particular responsibility
under the Treaty of
Waitangi and
international law to
protect and promote te
reo Māori as the
indigenous language of
New Zealand.

9. Statement on Language Policy
Other indigenous languages
• New Zealand also has a
special responsibility to
protect and promote
other languages that
are indigenous to the
New Zealand realm:
Vagahau Niue, Gagana
Tokelau, Cook Island
Māori, and New
Zealand Sign Language.

10. Statement on Language Policy
Other Pacific languages
• New Zealand has a
regional responsibility
as a Pacific nation to
promote and protect
other Pacific languages,
particularly where
significant proportions
of their communities
live in New Zealand.

11. Milestones 2005-2011
• Mind Your Language project
• Language Line
• NZ Sign Language Act
• New Zealand Curriculum
• Te Marautanga, Māori Medium Curriculum
• Guidelines for Māori in English medium schools
• Language curriculum statements
• Use of te reo Māori in the public domain
• Language weeks
• Establishment of Māori Television

12. In process
• Response to Waitangi Tribunal report
• Response to Māori language review
• New Māori Language Strategy
• Kohanga Reo claim
• Pacific Languages Framework

13. Obstacles to Progress
• Government’s resistance to cost implications
of language strategies and action plans
• Education Ministry’s narrow focus on national
standards of English literacy
• Ministry does not recognise duty in relation to
endangered Pacific languages
• No home or leadership responsibility for
language policy in government

14. Educational imperative
Ethnicity of all students 2010
22%
Maori
10%
55% Pacific
Asian
9%
Pakeha

15. Educational imperative:
Students in northern region 2010
3% 2%
16%
42% Pakeha
Maori
19% Pacific
Asian
Other
18% IFP

16. Health and safety imperative
Civil emergencies

17. International dimensions
• Māori in Australia
• Islands in the New Zealand realm: Cook
Islands, Niue, Tokelau
• Samoan Treaty of Friendship
• International human rights
• Trade and international relations

18. Human Rights Review 2010
• Acknowledged progress in
past five years
• Renewed call for:
– development and
implementation of a
national languages policy
and dedicated strategies
for Māori, Pacific and
community languages and
interpreting and
translation services
– mechanism to promote the
maintenance and
development of NZ Sign
Language

19. Immediate priorities
• New Māori language strategy
• Pacific languages strategy
• NZ Sign Language strategy
• Community languages strategy
• Revisiting the need for an overall national
languages policy, framework or strategy

20. Immediate priorities
• Increasing Ministry of Education commitment
to language learning and maintenance
• Te reo Māori as a core subject in schools
• Civil emergency preparedness and response
• Encouraging communities to assert their
human right to language