I have PTSD. It is an invisible disability. It took me years to accept that I had mental health issues and it took longer for me to accept that I was a person with a disability.
I have faced layers of trauma from what others have done to me.
Those "others" included those who had a responsibility to protect me. They were not just people I loved but people who held positions of power and they were paid and employed by the NZ government to protect me.
They did not
They effectively used their power to cause me significant harm. Many people knew it was happening including our Prime Minister, Ministers of Parliament, and the Chief Executives of our government agencies.
I did not know that I had rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
I am not alone.
In New Zealand, bad things happen to good people repeatedly.
Yet many people here in New Zealand and beyond our shores see New Zealand as an iconic world leader in caring for their people and their environment. They do not.
New Zealand is a beautiful country with many beautiful, friendly people.
It is a facade.
New Zealand wears a mask to hide many secrets of human violations known to the United Nations including torture, sexual abuse of people in care, violation of children's rights.
I love New Zealand. I am Maori. I am Tangata Whenua. As Maori, I have the responsibility to my whanau, to my people, to my children, to my grandchildren, to protect them so that they can flourish into the future. They are the gifts and they are my legacy.
I have made the decision to become a Human Rights Defender to advocate for others and to ensure that I do my part to ensure that our New Zealand government is accountable to the people that they serve, to all the Human Rights Conventions that they have ratified, to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene: our Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand.
We can all be Human Rights Defenders by getting informed of our human rights and by standing up and speaking up for others who cannot do that like our children, our people with disabilities, and our elderly.
We must also be courageous to face the truth from our past and present of the harm that has been done to those who have been significantly harmed so that we can first heal the harm and STOP the continuation of harm.
Get informed, get educated so you know your human rights
Make complaints so that people know that your rights have been violated
Share your stories to dispel the many secrets we have
Join with others to support you on your journey
Together we can make the seemingly impossible, possible.
Comments (0)