Moana Jackson to receive honorary doctorate

Treaty of Waitangi expert, indigenous rights legal scholar and Māori leader Moana Jackson (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Porou) will receive an honorary doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington at a graduation ceremony in December.

Victoria University Chancellor Sir Neville Jordan says the honorary doctorate in law acknowledges Mr Jackson’s 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.

“Moana Jackson is one of Māoridom’s most important legal scholars and leaders, and his work has influenced generations of policymakers and jurists alike.

“As well as leading debates about the Treaty of Waitangi and the treatment of Māori by the criminal justice system, Mr Jackson is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on indigenous peoples’ rights.

“Victoria is proud to count such a distinguished scholar and activist as one of its alumni, and is honoured to confer this doctorate on Mr Jackson.”

Mr Jackson graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University in 1969, subsequently conducting postgraduate research and teaching before co-founding Ngā Kaiwhakamārama i Ngā Ture (the Māori legal service) in 1988 and later Te Hau Tikanga (the Māori law commission).

In 1988, he undertook ground-breaking research on Māori and the criminal justice system for the then Justice Department. His investigation into the justice system and its bias against Māori led to the seminal report He Whaipaanga Hou, which has reshaped the national debate and changed understandings of Māori law.

Mr Jackson has worked extensively on international indigenous issues around the world. In 1988 he was an early member of a Māori delegation to the United Nations Working Group drafting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and serving as a judge on the International Tribunal of Indigenous Rights.

He was appointed Visiting Fellow at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law in 1995, and has gone on to be influential in shaping the curriculum of the Māori Laws and Philosophy programme at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, where he continues to teach.

As a well-respected Māori leader, since 2011 he has co-chaired with Professor Margaret Mutu the Independent Iwi Working Group on Constitutional Transformation, which has held over 300 hui around the country discussing the need for Treaty-based constitutional change.

Professor Rawinia Higgins, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori) is excited to host Moana at the Te Herenga Waka Marae graduation ceremony on Friday 15 December.

“Moana is an inspiration to students here at Victoria across a wide range of disciplines and programmes and his work is extremely influential. It is only fitting that someone who has shown a longstanding commitment to Māori students and Te Herenga Waka marae should have his doctorate conferred here.” 

 

- Victoria University