Are you subscribed to our mailing list? Please sign up to get a weekly newsletter and occasional other dispatches from the front lines of the defence of human rights. Sign up using the link in this week's newsletter 🔽🔽🔽 www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

This bill is so badly worded at present, there is no way to know beforehand whether you are breaking the law. It's Kafka-esque. It doesn't define 'near'. It's amateur hour. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...

Small favour: sign up for the Rights Aotearoa mailing list at 👉 www.rightsaotearoa.nz It’ll be our main communications channel in the future (besides BSky): a weekly Thursday newsletter + the occasional urgent human rights hot take. No spam, NO YELLING, just substance.

Rights Aotearoa has written to Dr Rainbow, urging the HRC, under his leadership, to publicly call on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the Ia Tangata report, and to do so by reference to New Zealand’s binding international human rights obligations. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-th...

Rights Aotearoa welcomes Melissa Derby's support for extending hate speech protections to include religious groups and the LGBTQIA+ community, as expressed in her appearance on TVNZ's Q+A this morning. She explicitly said that the LGB included the 'T' RA will issue a formal press release tomorrow.

"When someone argues that fewer trans people should exist, when they liken... healthcare to child abuse, when they advocate criminal penalties for doctors following...best practice —That is .... eliminationist rhetoric dressed up in the language of concern." www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...

We just sent out our second newsletter. Please share and sign up - our focus right now is on building up our newsletter subscriber base organically. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

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This is my response to their provisional opinion.

See below - a final decision from the Ombudsman that Brooke Van Velden can rely on professional legal privilege to redact the human rights analysis of the pay equity changes. I gave it my all, team. Attached to the second post is my response to their provisional opinion.

We were on Ghost.io before it was made fashionable by Farrier ;-) We just sent out our first Ghost-hosted newsletter, though just now. Please read and then sign up! :-) www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

Despite my industrial-strength ADHD, Rights Aotearoa will send out a newsletter each Thursday outlining our activities and key human rights news. There will be the occasional extra email when important events require it, but we will not clog up your inbox! Please sign up at www.rightsaotearoa.nz

📢 Stay informed. Take action. Sign up to the Rights Aotearoa newsletter for your weekly Thursday briefing — plus urgent alerts when human rights news breaks. 👉 Join here: www.rightsaotearoa.nz

Rights Aotearoa's Submission on the Draft Standard Code of Conduct for Local Government www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

Rights Aotearoa has written to Dr Rainbow, urging the HRC, under his leadership, to publicly call on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the Ia Tangata report, and to do so by reference to New Zealand’s binding international human rights obligations. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-th...

Our CEO will be making an oral presentation of Rights Aotearoa's written submission to the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity in the morning session this Thursday, the 25th at 10.35 am. Our written submission is here: www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

Our submission to the People's Select Committee on the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

Please read my article below, which argues that we must retire the false marketplace of ideas analogy and replace it with a more coherent model. *How can a good idea beat a bad idea when the owner of X alters the algorithm to win by brute force?* constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/the-death-of...

Democracy is not self-executing. It requires active protection. Yesterday, Doyle’s speech reminded us that we failed that test. The right to participate in the political process without fear is a universal human right—and we will defend it with all our strength www.rightsaotearoa.nz/yesterday-we...

Democracy is not self-executing. It requires active protection. Yesterday, Doyle’s speech reminded us that we failed that test. The right to participate in the political process without fear is a universal human right—and we will defend it with all our strength www.rightsaotearoa.nz/yesterday-we...

We’ve written to Minister Goldsmith, urging him to act on the Law Commission’s Ia Tangata report. The law must make the implicit explicit: clear protections for trans, non-binary & intersex people. Parliament must act—dignity can’t wait. #HumanRights #IaTangata www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-pa...

We stand with the Lemkin Institute's call for GANHRI to withdraw the UK EHRC's accreditation. The EHRC has abandoned its mandate, systematically eroding trans & intersex rights. A captured institution cannot be a human rights body. #TransRights www.lemkininstitute.com/_files/ugd/c...

We welcome Te Aka Matua o te Ture's report Ia Tangata as a significant step forward in securing legal protections for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics in Aotearoa New Zealand. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

We welcome Te Aka Matua o te Ture's report Ia Tangata as a significant step forward in securing legal protections for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics in Aotearoa New Zealand. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...

With the imminent release of the Final Document of the Ia Tangata project from the Law Commission, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the submission we made when we were still called Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/countering-h...

This is the last in my 3-part series on Foucault and Human Rights. Please repost and sign up for my personal blog. constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/biopolitics-...

Please sign up for my Personal Blog - Constellation of Rights. This is my second essay in a three-part series. Will pop the third one up later. constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/from-panopti...

My views on Foucault and human rights are more nuanced and better now, I think. Here is a 3 part essay series: Essay one: constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/human-rights...

The "marketplace of ideas" is dead. It was killed by algorithms that reward extremism, echo chambers that prevent competition, and platforms that profit from polarisation. We need a new metaphor: the discursive ecosystem. constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/the-death-of...

We submit in fervent opposition to the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) removal provisions of the Bill, presented as a return to “meritocracy” by eliminating so-called “woke” diversity measures. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/submission-t...

If you like our work, you can support us here with a donation (tax-deductible if you are a NZ tax resident): opencollective.com/rights-aotea...

We submit in fervent opposition to the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) removal provisions of the Bill, presented as a return to “meritocracy” by eliminating so-called “woke” diversity measures. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/submission-t...

Human rights must never go backward; we can draw inspiration from the music of Beethoven in this resolve. constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/no-going-bac...

We were invited to present to the select committee, but due to being doxxed by Courts NZ earlier that week, I wasn't able to make it for obvious reasons. Here is a slightly expanded version (and updated) oral submission. I am quite proud of this. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/expanded-ora...

New Zealand. Pay attention.

A certain local civil liberties org likes to say free speech is the right that all the other rights are built upon. Not true, of course. But three quarks make up human rights: -Bodily Autonomy -Equality -Dignity constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/the-three-qu...

This is a little something I have wanted to say for a while, so here are 500 words. The prohibited grounds of discrimination in section 21 of the HRA concern what we must necessarily take from our private lives into the public sphere. constellation-of-rights.ghost.io/the-suitcase...

I have launched a new personal blog. Constellation of Rights! My first article is below. Professional regulators must uphold speech restrictions on healthcare professionals. It's about the therapeutic relationship. You don't need your surgeon's hot take on the great replacement theory....

Can you please put a 👍 emoji in the replies if you would be interested in attending a Rights Aotearoa submission writing workshop on Hon Judith "crusher" Collins KC's ante-diluvian and anti-woke Public Service Amendment Bill! Next Monday night, probably. bills.parliament.nz/v/6/426f1977...

Just had a lovely communication from a MoJ exec. Rights Aotearoa has been added to the roster of major civil society groups they consult with on human rights matters! And also, we received an OIA back. Despite the FSU intimating otherwise, the MOJ has not given them assistance on their HDCA work.

We were invited to present to the select committee, but due to being doxxed by Courts NZ earlier that week, I wasn't able to make it for obvious reasons. Here is a slightly expanded version (and updated) oral submission. I am quite proud of this. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/expanded-ora...

I have to make an apology to the transgender, non-binary, and intersex communities. Please read. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/a-public-apo...

I have to make an apology to the transgender, non-binary, and intersex communities. Please read. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/a-public-apo...

Rights Aotearoa utterly condemns Minister Stanford's cultural suppression of te reo Māori. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...

Rights Aotearoa utterly condemns Minister Stanford's cultural suppression of te reo Māori. www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...

It seems that the HRC is unwilling to meet with Rights Aotearoa or provide additional proactive transparency about Rainbow's activities. Yet, they meet with people who actively want to take away people's human rights. What a topsy-turvy world we live in.

It seems that the HRC is unwilling to meet with Rights Aotearoa or provide additional proactive transparency about Rainbow's activities. Yet, they meet with people who actively want to take away people's human rights. What a topsy-turvy world we live in.

It's Rights Aotearoa's considered opinion that the Minister's actions possibly breach five UN conventions Aotearoa has ratified. We are quite pressed in the office this week on a big thing, so we will analyse and issue a detailed press release next week. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

It's Rights Aotearoa's considered opinion that the Minister's actions possibly breach five UN conventions Aotearoa has ratified. We are quite pressed in the office this week on a big thing, so we will analyse and issue a detailed press release next week. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...