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National | Indigenous

First Māori appointed to UN's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The newest addition to the seven-member panel of the United Nations’ Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) says the appointment gives her an ear on hurdles and challenges that indigenous peoples are facing.

Dr Valmaine Toki (Ngāti Rehua, Ngāti Wai, Ngāpuhi), a law professor at Waikato University, is the first Māori and first New Zealander to be appointed by the president of the Human Rights Council to the UN’s EMRIP. It comes as having served two terms as an expert member on the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“I am hoping to raise the platform of our Pasifika people and provide an opportunity to understand and promote their rights,” Toki says.

EMRIP meets once a year in Geneva, and Dr Toki's appointment will also mean invitations to specific countries to learn more about Indigenous peoples' struggles and how states implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“I’m an indigenous wahine, so these issues have been continually on my mind. As a former member of the UN Permanent Forum, this work is a continuation of that.”

She says that although small steps are being made in the right direction, nothing should prevent Indigenous people from asserting their rights such as language and culture.