End of mission statement by the United Nations Expert Mechanism of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to its visit in New Zealand

26 April 2019

The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) undertook a country engagement mission to New Zealand from 8 to 13 April 2019. The members who undertook the mission were Laila Vars, Vice-Chair of EMRIP and Head of Mission, and Edtami Mansayagan.

This country engagement was undertaken in response to a request from the Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Mechanism on behalf of the National Iwi Chairs Forum and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission under the EMRIP’s amended mandate, Human Rights Council Resolution 33/25.

The purpose of the mission was to provide advice on the development of a National Plan of Action or other measure to achieve the ends of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand.

During its mission, the EMRIP traveled to Wellington and Auckland, where it met with the requesters, Maori from different communities, NGOs, state and legal officials, academia and others.

As agreed by both parties, the EMRIP will provide an advisory note in the coming weeks on the development of this plan.

The EMRIP would like to thank the requesters, for proposing the country engagement mission, the Maori community for hosting many of the meetings, and the Member State for its full cooperation and positive engagement during this process.

This was the third country engagement mission undertaken by the EMRIP under this amended mandate.

END

The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) is a subsidiary body of the Human Rights Council mandated to provide the Council with expertise and advice on the rights of indigenous peoples as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and assist Member States, upon request, in achieving the ends of the Declaration through the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights of indigenous peoples.

For further information see the following page