Lady Tureiti Moxon Files Urgent Human Rights Complaint to UN over Systemic Discrimination in Aotearoa New Zealand
Today, in an unprecedented move, Lady Tureiti Moxon has filed a comprehensive 42-page “urgent action/early warning complaint,” supported by 185 footnotes, with the United Nations, seeking urgent intervention in Aotearoa New Zealand under the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
She has requested the opportunity to meet with the five-member working group responsible for the Early Warning and Urgent Action procedure in Geneva, before or during the Committee’s upcoming 116th session, scheduled from 17 November to 5 December 2025, when Aotearoa New Zealand is due for review.
Lady Tureiti, a Māori leader of Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, and Kāi Tahu descent, and Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority, has been advocating for Māori health and rights for over three decades.
“What has been outlined in this complaint demonstrates serious violations of the Convention that require urgent attention,” she said. “It raises serious questions in relation to the standing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi within the constitutional arrangements in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
The lengthy submission presents extensive evidence showing that, since late 2023, a series of Coalition Government actions have reversed decades of progress towards fulfilling Aotearoa New Zealand’s obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has issued only one other specific decision under its urgent action and early warning procedure for Aotearoa New Zealand, in March 2005, concerning the New Zealand Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. The Committee concluded that the legislation appeared to discriminate against Māori in exercising their rights to own or possess ancestral lands and resources.
“The evidence shows a significant and persistent pattern of political racial discrimination against iwi Māori that removes the rights of Māori to live as Māori in their own land. This has been a deliberate and intentional strategy to remove all references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in legislation, policies, and procedures,” Lady Tureiti said.
Her submission documents repeated instances of unconstitutional overreach by the Coalition Government, including:
Extensive use of urgency to bypass public participation
Pursuing legislation against overwhelming public opposition
Undermining the separation of powers by overriding judicial decisions recognising Māori rights
Introducing bills just before Waitangi Tribunal hearings to deprive it of jurisdiction
Removing the requirement for schools to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi from legislation after the select committee process had already been completed
Granting Ministers powers to override laws with little transparency
Excluding opposition Māori politicians from Parliament for performing a traditional haka
“These actions represent a pattern of serious breaches of human rights and international obligations. Urgent action from the UN Committee is necessary to address the systemic discrimination and ongoing harm experienced by Māori communities across Aotearoa New Zealand,” Lady Tureiti said. “It clearly highlights hostile policies and grave statements by political leaders that intentionally target Māori, causing harm, trauma, and inequity.”
Her evidence illustrates how the Coalition Government’s regressive actions since 2023 have undone fifty years of rebalancing in areas including land, language, children and youth, justice, health, science, and self-determination.
Copies of the complaint have also been sent to Crown Law, the Human Rights Commission (including the Race Relations Commissioner), the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General, Te Tari Whakatau – the Office of Treaty Settlements and Takutai Moana, and the Public Service Commission.