Labour goes crying to Helen
Labour have announced:
The Labour Party has complained to the United Nations over the continuing denial of democratic elections for Environment Canterbury (ECan) councillors.
“The National government took away the right of Canterbury people to elect councillors on ECan and in doing so denied them their democratic rights contrary to international agreements we are party to,” Labour MP for Port Hills Ruth Dyson says.
Two important UN treaties, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, confirm that it is a human right that citizens have a say on the running of their country and take part in the conduct of public affairs.
“The National government has shown it has no concern for the democratic rights of people here because they didn’t just take away the right to elect regional council members once, they’ve done it twice and there is nothing stopping them doing it again.
“When your own government trashes the democratic rights of its people, there aren’t many places to go to seek redress, but the Human Rights committee of the UN is a place we can go to get the issue investigated, hence the letter written by my colleague and Labour’s Justice spokesperson Andrew Little.
As pathetic stints go, this one is exceptionally bad.
Labour is trying to trash the reputation of New Zealand internationally. The Parliament of New Zealand, democratically elected, sacking an incompetent local authority. This is quite common. They are now trying to say this makes NZ a violator of human rights.
And who are the countries that Labour is running off to, asking them to decry NZ’s human rights record. Here’s some of them:
- Algeria
- Egypt
- South Africa
- Tunisia
So very pathetic.
UPDATE: I wonder if Labour complained to the UN when David Cunliffe sacked the democratically elected Hawke’s Bay District Health Board?