Moana Jackson
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Moana Jackson (10 October 1945 – 31 March 2022) was a New Zealand lawyer specialising in constitutional law, the
Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...
and international indigenous issues. He was an advocate and activist for
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
rights, arguing that the New Zealand criminal justice system was discriminatory and leading work on constitutional reforms. In 1987 he co-founded Ngā Kaiwhakamarama i Ngā Ture (the Māori Legal Service). He also supported the rights of indigenous people internationally – for example, through leading the working group that drafted the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
and sitting as a judge on the International Tribunal of Indigenous Rights in the 1990s.


Biography

Jackson was born in
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
, and was one of six children of Everard Jackson, an
All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
rugby player, and Hineaka (Janey) Cunningham. His older brother was activist Syd Jackson. He was affiliated with the
iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...
of
Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi (tribe) located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The Kahungunu iwi also comprises 86 hapū (sub-tribes ...
on his mother's side and
Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. It has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi, with an estimated 102,480 people according to the ...
on his father's side. He attended Mayfair Primary School and Hastings Intermediate, and from 1959 to 1963 he attended
Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...
, where he was a prefect in his last year. He graduated in law and criminology at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
, and after a short period in practice took up the teaching of the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
. He then undertook further study in the United States, attending
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
. Jackson died on 31 March 2022 at
Waimana Waimana is a rural valley in the Whakatāne District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located in the northern Te Urewera. Waimana River, originally known as Tauranga River, runs through the valley, joining the Ohine ...
after a long illness, just three days after his sister-in-law, Dame June Jackson. His tangi (traditional funeral) took place at Matahiwi Marae. He requested that women be able to speak on the marae at his tangi, a role usually reserved for men. On Jackson's death, a number of well-known New Zealanders paid him tribute including
Marama Davidson Marama Mere-Ana Davidson (née Paratene; born 29 December 1973) is a New Zealand politician who entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2015 as a list MP (member of Parliament) representing the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, of which she be ...
(co-leader of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
), academics Margaret Mutu and Khylee Quince, and writer
Tina Makereti Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book ''Onc ...
. New Zealand's prime minister
Jacinda Ardern Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician and activist who was the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was ...
said:


Career

After returning to New Zealand from his study in the United States, Jackson conducted research for the New Zealand Department of Justice. As part of this work he wrote ''Māori and the Criminal Justice System: A New Perspective, He Whaipaanga Hou'' published in 1988. In this report he argued that without changes to the criminal justice system Māori people would experience worse outcomes and discrimination. He was the first person to argue that an alternative justice system would be more appropriate for Māori. the report continues to be influential in New Zealand legal policy. In 1987 he co-founded Ngā Kaiwhakamarama i Ngā Ture (the
Māori Legal Service Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
) and as of 2021 was a director of the organisation. In 1989 he began preparing a claim to the
Waitangi Tribunal The Waitangi Tribunal (Māori: ''Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi'') is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on c ...
supporting Māori rights over native plants and animals. The claim was unique as being made on behalf of all Māori rather than individual
iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...
. The claim was lodged in 1991 and in its 2011 report the Tribunal concluded that conservation should be co-managed by a partnership between Māori and the Crown. His overseas work included leading the Indigenous Peoples caucus of the working group that drafted the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
. In 1993 he was a judge on the International Tribunal of Indigenous Rights in Hawaii and again in 1995 in Canada. During the Bougainville peace process Jackson was counsel for the Bougainville Interim Government. Jackson was a vocal critic of the New Zealand government's foreshore and seabed legislation in 2004. He was also a vocal critic of the October 2007 police 'terror' raids. He resigned as patron of the Police Recruit Wing 244 due to his opposition to how the raids were conducted and his view that they were racially motivated, for example by treating the predominantly Māori community of
Ruatoki Ruatoki North is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty of New Zealand, just south of the small town of Tāneatua and approximately south of the town of Whakatāne. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valley and has formed broa ...
more harshly than the predominantly
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
(New Zealand European) suburb of
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, Wellington. In 2009 at Omahu Marae in Hastings he said: "Those who take power unjustly defend it with injustice." In 2016 he led the Matike Mai Aotearoa working group on constitutional reform in New Zealand. The group's report was published on
Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...
in 2016, and made a number of recommendations for constitutional change. One recommendation of the report was to develop the ability of Māori to make decisions for Māori, which led to a Māori Constitutional Convention being held in February 2021, at which Jackson gave the keynote speech. Jackson lectured at
Te Wānanga o Raukawa is a Māori wānanga (indigenous tertiary-education provider) in New Zealand, established in 1981. Based in Ōtaki, with smaller campuses in Auckland and Gisborne, the wānanga was born out of a collaborative tribal desire or experiment known ...
in Ōtaki on the Ahunga Tīkanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) degree programme. In 1995 he was appointed a visiting fellow in the faculty of law at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
. In the early 2010s he chaired a board appointed by the Minister of Education to ensure the survival of
Te Aute College Te Aute College (Māori language, Māori: Te Kura o Te Aute) is a school in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. It opened in 1854 with twelve pupils under Samuel Williams (missionary), Samuel Williams, an Anglicanism, Anglican missionary, and ...
, a school with a strong Māori character which was experiencing financial difficulties.


Views on criminal justice

Jackson challenged the role of prisons in the criminal justice system and argued that they should never be the only answer, particularly for indigenous people. He noted that indigenous people traditionally have justice systems that seek to restore "the balance between the wrongdoer and the victim through mediation processes involving sanction and recompense". At a conference in 2018, Jackson said the New Zealand criminal justice system isolates both the perpetrator and the victim from their communities and history. He challenged the notion of one law for all and the Eurocentric approach to crime with the offender viewed as separate from the culture and society they grow up in. Jackson highlighted the importance of showing positive portrayals of Māori in the media, as the negative portrayal of Māori may damage their self-worth.


Awards

In 2017 Jackson was awarded an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
from
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
for his outstanding contribution to legal scholarship around the Treaty and to public debates about how Māori are treated by the justice system and their place in New Zealand society more broadly. He refused any formal honours from the New Zealand government, saying he would not accept them unless the
Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...
was fully incorporated into New Zealand governance. In 2021 he was made a Companion of the
Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand) is a not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. These fundings (i.e., Marsden grants and research fe ...
, recognising his leadership in New Zealand. In May 2021, he was presented with the inaugural Te Whare Pukenga award by the
National Iwi Chairs Forum The National Iwi Chairs Forum is an entity founded in 2005 made up of the chairpersons of 71 iwi groups in New Zealand, facilitating the sharing of information among iwi leaders. The Forum holds meetings four times a year at different marae thro ...
, to recognise his "outstanding contributions as an advocate, facilitator and educator" in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi, human rights and social justice.


Selected publications

* * * * *


References


External links


"The Art of Having Faith in Ourselves"
excerpt from Jackson's foreword to ''Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art'' (2022)
"Covid and the Pandemic of Colonisation"
article by Jackson for ''E-Tangata'', 12 December 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Moana 1945 births 2022 deaths 20th-century New Zealand lawyers 21st-century New Zealand lawyers Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand Moana Māori activists Māori studies academics New Zealand Māori academics New Zealand Māori lawyers Ngāti Kahungunu people Ngāti Porou people People educated at Hastings Boys' High School Academic staff of Te Wānanga o-Raukawa Treaty of Waitangi Victoria University of Wellington alumni