My research considers Indigenous children’s rights, with a particular focus on Article 12 and on child
protection. The rights of children of all ethnicities are protected by the UNCRC, including special
protections for Indigenous children. However, are these protections enough, or do they sometimes
contribute to the marginalisation of Indigenous children, rather than correcting it?
This presentation seeks to answer that question, using the New Zealand child protection system as a
case study. It is based on my PhD research, which initially focused on implementing children’s
participation rights within the child protection system. While that was the starting point, during the
course of my research I came to believe that the international children’s rights framework may
sometimes be a barrier to progress for Māori children in this context, rather than an enabler.
In this paper I argue that because the overrepresentation of Māori in the child protection system is a
product of colonisation, approaches which promote decolonisation are required. For us as Māori,
that means upholding our right to collective self-determination and developing responses based on
Māori knowledges. Individualist approaches to children’s rights may inhibit that process, and the
UNCRC is ill-equipped to addressing the broader problems which affect Māori children’s rights. (From the document). Record #8383