Māori tribes ask king to intervene in New Zealand treaty row

Representatives of more than 80 Māori tribes have issued a rare plea to King Charles requesting his intervention in New Zealand politics, amid growing tension over the government's policies for Māori and a souring of the relationship between Indigenous people and authorities.

- Eva Corlett

The National Iwi Chairs Forum—a collective of tribal leaders—has sent an open letter to the king asking him "to ensure that the [New Zealand] government does not diminish the crown's honour" over what they believe to be ongoing breaches of the crown's promises made to Māori in the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document of New Zealand.

Since it took office last year, New Zealand's rightwing coalition government's policy direction for Māori has sparked the biggest ever protest over Māori rights, mass meetings of Māori leaders and condemnation from the Waitangi Tribunal, an institution that investigates breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The treaty is an agreement signed in 1840 between more than 500 Māori chiefs and the British crown and is instrumental in upholding Māori rights.