On 20 April 2010 at the annual meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City, New Zealand's Minster of Maori Affairs, Dr. Pita Sharples, formally delivered a statement on his government's recognition and support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. With an overwhelming majority of 144 votes in favor, only 4 negative votes cast (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States) and 11 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 13, 2007.
The Declaration had been negotiated through more than 20 years between nation-states and Indigenous Peoples. Since its adoption in 2007, Australia has reversed its positions and now endorses the Declaration. In March 2010, the Government of Canada announced it would take steps to endorse the UN Declaration and, in April 2010, the United States indicated that it will also review its position regarding the Declaration.
Minister Sharples declared the following points from New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key:
- acknowledgement that Maori hold a special status as tangata whenua, the indigenous people of New Zealand and have an interest in all policy and legislative matters;
- affirmation of New Zealand's commitment to the common objectives of the declaration and the Treaty of Waitangi; and
- reaffirmation of the legal and constitutional frameworks that underpin New Zealand's legal system, noting that those existing frameworks define the bounds of New Zealand's engagement with the declaration.
