Legal Education and Empowerment on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and International Trade Agreements
This project aims to educate and empower Māori to better understand the intersection between free trade policy and rules and two contemporary Tiriti o Waitangi issues: the rangatiratanga/kawanatanga relationship in international trade treaty-making, building on Matike Mai; and Te Taiao and the climate crisis.
About the project
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga is mandated by a 2021 Mediation Agreement with the Crown in the Waitangi Tribunal (Wai 2522) Inquiry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). The Mediation Agreement requires the team, inter alia, to work with Māori communities to build their understanding of how free trade agreements affect them and their capacity to intervene to protect and promote their duties, responsibilities, rights and interests under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
This projects aims to educate Māori on the intersection between free trade policy and rules and two contemporary Tiriti issues: the rangatiratanga/kawanatanga relationship in international trade treaty-making, building on Matike Mai; and Te Taiao and the climate crisis. To do this, the team will update and expand upon existing Waitangi Tribunal and other research in the project areas to deliver a range of easily accessible resources in traditional and creative formats, targeted especially at non-lawyers. And while Māori are the principle target, these resources will also educate those who are involved in domestic policies and legislation such as trade negotiators, officials and politicians, lawyers, academics, and law students.
Grant amount
$119,800 over 2 years or for work in 2023-2025
About Ngā Toki Whakarururanga
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga is a by-Māori-for-Māori collective established pursuant to the Mediation Agreement in the Waitangi Tribunal Wai-2522 claim on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga’s Kaupapa is sourced in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni. Their job is to advance and protect Māori Tiriti-based duties, responsibilities, rights and interests in the broad trade-related space. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga hold themselves accountable to te iwi Māori, ngā tamariki mokopuna hoki. Their aim is for Māori to thrive in the exercise of rangatiratanga and in our relationship with kāwanatanga. Find out more here.
Contact
Ben Morgan, Te Hiwa, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga
ngatokiwhakarururanga@gmail.com