KEY POINTS:
The Mau Sitiseni movement will today take its fight over New Zealand citizenship rights for Samoans to the United Nations.
The movement's leader, former National Party MP Arthur Anae, said it had no option but to take the matter to the UN International Human Rights Committee because New Zealand had failed to address the issue.
The Samoan community has been trying for five years to secure citizenship for about 100,000 Samoans, deprived of New Zealand citizenship through retrospective legislation. It did this by rushing through the Citizenship (Western Samoa) 1982 Act through Parliament after the Privy Council ruled all Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 (and their children) were entitled to be New Zealand citizens.
Mr Anae said the New Zealand Government had only itself to blame if its human rights record was tarnished by its continuing failure to address the issue.
He said more than 100,000 Samoans signed a 2003 petition asking the Government to give Samoans back their rights, or to allow Samoans to come and go freely - without social welfare benefits - while they built up the necessary residency qualifications. The petition was rejected.
Mau Sitiseni will file the petition with the UN committee in Auckland today, asking it to look into the case on behalf of the Samoan people. Mr Anae said once the petition was filed a date would be issued for a hearing.
"The Samoan community gave New Zealand every option to resolve the problem.
"We did not want to go to the UN to expose what New Zealand did to what the Privy Council declared to be their own people.
"We are raising funds to take this case to the UN, because the trade-off I offered New Zealand was simply this: we will not seek the return of citizenship rights if they accept the fact the Samoans can come to NZ and be issued with visas for 12 months that allowed them to work or visit, and that the visas can be renewed every 12 months.
"Also these people will not have access to the New Zealand social welfare system or unemployment benefits until such time as they apply for New Zealand citizenship or residency and get approved."
He said the Government had rejected the offer.
In November 2005, UN special rapporteur Rodolfo Stavenhagen was in New Zealand at the invitation of the Government to report on the status of human rights for Maori.
In April last year, the UN human rights committee released its findings based on Professor Stavenhagen's recommendations and found New Zealand in breach of various human rights issues.
The Government dismissed the report as grossly inaccurate and unbalanced.
- NZPA
