Source: Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission
Last updated: 29 July 2026
Commission opposes review that seeks to repeal or dilute Treaty references in legislation.
“At its heart, this issue is simple. The Government says it wants clarity, but many Māori, legal experts, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Human Rights Commission, and international bodies say the review risks doing the opposite: weakening protections, reducing accountability, and increasing conflict.”
Human Rights Commission’s Indigenous Governance Partner Rongomau Taketake, Dayle Takitimu.
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission has today released an advance submission and information guide on the proposals announced by the government to repeal or dilute Treaty references in legislation.
The Commission concludes that the proposed reforms are constitutionally regressive, inconsistent with established Treaty jurisprudence, incompatible with domestic and international human rights standards, and likely to deepen legal uncertainty, litigation risk and racial division rather than reduce them.
The Commission’s Rongomau Taketake, Dayle Takitimu stated:
“At its heart, this issue is simple. The Government says it wants clarity, but many Māori, legal experts, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Human Rights Commission, and international bodies say the review risks doing the opposite: weakening protections, reducing accountability, and increasing conflict.”
“Achieving clarity – if that is the aim of the exercise – doesn’t require watering down obligations to the bare minimum. Certainty and clarity are better achieved by following agreed human rights standards which support honouring treaties and respecting Indigenous peoples’ human rights.”
The submission reiterates the position taken by the Commission on the Treaty Principles Bill, noting that the same pattern of unilateral Crown action, flawed human-rights reasoning, and distortion of Te Tiriti underpins the current legislative review.
“Te Tiriti is not a side issue or a drafting inconvenience; it is part of the constitutional and human rights foundation of Aotearoa,” says Takitimu.
The paper recommends that the current proposals be abandoned, and that any replacement be developed with the meaningful involvement of Tiriti partners. The recommendations echo those made previously by the Waitangi Tribunal and the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The Commission’s paper raises human rights concerns regarding both the substance of the proposals and the process through which decisions have been made, namely that the proposals were developed without due consideration of the views of those most affected, and the domestic and international accountability mechanisms that exist to safeguard rights and serve as checks on the exercise of public power.
These include the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, whose December report on New Zealand’s compliance with anti-discrimination obligations, expressed concern about the review. The Committee urged the Government to ensure that relevant legislative reviews were undertaken “in full and effective consultation and partnership with Māori” and “in accordance with the [human rights] principle of free, prior and informed consent”.
To learn more, download the Commission’s explainer and full draft submission: