Charm Skinner

In 2019, Charm Skinner was the first Indigenous scholar to win a scholarship to join the United Nations’ Indigenous Fellowship Programme, provide research assistance to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, attend the Expert Mechanism session in Geneva, Switzerland, and undertake 5 weeks of UN training on Indigenous rights in international law and policy.

Here is Charm's sharing on her experience. 

I am from Hamilton and grew up in a place called Fairfield. My upbringing was surrounded by drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Education was my outlet and the place that I thrived in. Everything I have undertaken to this point in my life focuses around helping others because it is ingrained in who I am as a person. Without the support of my teachers through my education, the many role models I have made along the way and the love and support of my grandparents and family I would not be in the privileged position that I am in today. Everything I do now, is for future rangatahi so that they too can carry out their dreams and aspirations without the fear of barriers in their way!

I am in my final year of law school and in semester one of this year, I was fortunate to be accepted into the Human Right’s Law Theory and Its Application legal clinic. The class had the incredible opportunity to have Maia Wikaira as our clinical legal instructor.

For my project, I was lucky enough to work alongside the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) when it visited New Zealand earlier this year at the request of the Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Mechanism (AIMM) and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission (HRC). The purpose of the EMRIP’s visit was to facilitate dialogue and discussions between Māori and the New Zealand Government on what Māori wanted in a national plan of action to uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which New Zealand adopted in 2010. Since its adoption, the New Zealand Government has made slow progress articulating how it will implement its obligations under UNDRIP in New Zealand. The visit was important because EMRIP would provide an advisory note on how the New Zealand Government should carry out a national plan of action to uphold UNDRIP in relation to Māori.

I spent a week travelling around Auckland and Wellington to various hui with AIMM, the HRC and EMRIP. I attended meetings with Hon. Ministers Mahuta and Little, and had the opportunity to visit several government agencies.

I also had the opportunity to sit in on various hui with the community where one clear message was made to those in power: tino rangatiratanga. Māori expressed the desire to be at the table with Government in the national plan of action, not just being merely consulted. These views are emphasised in the advisory note EMRIP presented in relation to recommendations for a national plan of action.

My clinic experience opened the door to three more exciting opportunities for me. After my EMRIP work came to an end, I was offered work experience in the Kaiwhakarite Team at the HRC. The team oversees issues in relation to Māori and their human rights. I was able to undertake meaningful research for the Human Rights Specialists within the team.

Not long after this mahi had started, I was encouraged to apply for the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights Indigenous Fellowship Programme (OHCHR IFP). I was fortunate to be selected and was chosen to be a Fellow for the 2019 intake.

The OHCHR IFP programme is a 5-week human right’s training programme held annually in Geneva, Switzerland. The fellowship gives Indigenous people the chance to learn about mechanisms within the UN that they can use at an international level to help promote the advancement of their human rights and self determination. I had the chance to meet many experts in these mechanisms and learn how indigenous people can access and use them. These are invaluable tools that I can now share with Māori and other indigenous people to create awareness and change around indigenous rights.

While on the programme, we were also encouraged to speak at the EMRIP’s 12th session in Geneva. My first intervention was on EMRIP’s country engagement to Aotearoa and the need for the Government to implement the recommendations made in the advisory note from the country engagement. My second intervention was made on behalf of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus where we wrote a joint statement on the forced removal of children by the state. We presented this as a future thematic study for EMRIP to undertake.

On returning to New Zealand I was offered a job as a law clerk at the Office of Human Rights Proceedings. It is the highest body a New Zealand citizen can access in relation to human rights complaints.

I have also been inspired to continue my education next year and am thinking about undertaking Post Graduate studies in Indigenous and humanitarian law. These possibilities would not have occurred to me had I not taken this clinic. It has truly been life-changing. I have been exposed to so many opportunities that I could only have once dreamed of. More importantly, this clinic is special because it shows students that there are options to pursue future careers in human rights law and that you do not always have to travel down the traditional route.

I have an obligation now, not just to Māori but to the international Indigenous community to continue to use my voice to advance our rights. Many other fellows on the programme I was a part of do not have the same privileges as me to speak the truth without facing political repercussions in their own states. Thus, I am proud to be a voice for them and I will use my privilege to continue the fight for our rights to self-determination.