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rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Rights Aotearoa
@rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
1K followers 1.5K following 130 posts
Rights Aotearoa is Aotearoa's leading NGO championing the universal human rights of all kiwis with a particular focus on the rights of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people.
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
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https://opencollective.com/rights-aotearoa
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Rights Aotearoa @rightsaotearoa.bsky.social · 20d
First of three posts about the erasure of rainbow youth from the curriculum. This is a media release.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Draft Curriculum Erases Rainbow Students and Breaches Human Rights Obligations
Wellington — Rights Aotearoa completely and utterly condemns the Ministry of Education's draft Health and Physical Education curriculum, released yesterday, which completely erases references to diver...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Rights Aotearoa welcomes New Zealand’s decision to co-sign the joint statement condemning atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law in Sudan. Clear, united condemnation is essential to accountability and the protection of civilians.

www.regjeringen.no/en/whats-new...
Joint Statement Condemning Atrocities and Violations of International Humanitarian law in Sudan
This joint statement expresses deep alarm over reports of systematic violence against civilians in Sudan following the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the escalating conflict i...
www.regjeringen.no
November 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Media Release:
Is NZ First beginning to see sense? A ban on fireworks replaces attacks on trans community.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Is NZ First beginning to see sense? A ban on fireworks replaces attacks on trans community.
Tuesday, 5 November, 2025
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
November 4, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Third, we have written urgently to the Chief Human Rights Commissioner.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-st...
Letter to Stephen Rainbow re: Urgent Request for Public Statement on Draft Health and Physical Education Curriculum
I write to you both as the Chief Executive of Rights Aotearoa and as a fellow advocate for human rights in Aotearoa, regarding a matter of urgent concern that falls squarely within the Commission's ma...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 29, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Second, we have written urgently to the Minister of Education.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-ho...
Letter to Hon Erica Stanford Re: Draft Health and Physical Education Curriculum – Human Rights Concerns Regarding Erasure of LGBTTQIA+ Content
I write to you regarding the draft Health and Physical Education curriculum content released on 28 October 2025, and to express Rights Aotearoa's extremely grave concerns that the draft framework fail...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 29, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
First of three posts about the erasure of rainbow youth from the curriculum. This is a media release.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Draft Curriculum Erases Rainbow Students and Breaches Human Rights Obligations
Wellington — Rights Aotearoa completely and utterly condemns the Ministry of Education's draft Health and Physical Education curriculum, released yesterday, which completely erases references to diver...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 29, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
raulbview.bsky.social
Damn right.
October 29, 2025 at 10:44 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
First of three posts about the erasure of rainbow youth from the curriculum. This is a media release.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Draft Curriculum Erases Rainbow Students and Breaches Human Rights Obligations
Wellington — Rights Aotearoa completely and utterly condemns the Ministry of Education's draft Health and Physical Education curriculum, released yesterday, which completely erases references to diver...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 29, 2025 at 9:34 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Content warning: torture and children

Urgent letter to the Honourable Louise Upston regarding the alleged torture of children at Gloriavale.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-ho...
Letter to Hon Louise Upston - Urgent Investigation Required – Alleged Torture of Children at Gloriavale
I write on behalf of Rights Aotearoa regarding the recently reported child disciplinary practices at Gloriavale, specifically the hand-over-mouth technique described in the New Zealand Herald on 27 Oc...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 27, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Why does Rights Aotearoa focus on universal human rights as opposed to Civil Liberties - a new page on our website.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/universal-hu...
Universal Human Rights v Civil Liberties Approaches
Why Does Rights Aotearoa Focus on Universal Human Rights as Opposed to Civil Liberties?
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Why does Rights Aotearoa focus on universal human rights as opposed to Civil Liberties - a new page on our website.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/universal-hu...
Universal Human Rights v Civil Liberties Approaches
Why Does Rights Aotearoa Focus on Universal Human Rights as Opposed to Civil Liberties?
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
This week's newsletter!

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...
Rights Aotearoa Newsletter #4
Broadcasting Standards Must Protect All New Zealanders – Regardless of Platform This week, Rights Aotearoa took a bold stance in support of the Broadcasting Standards Authority's decision to apply br...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 15, 2025 at 8:36 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Media Release - Rights Aotearoa Commends BSA for Closing Regulatory Loophole.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
MEDIA RELEASE – Broadcasting standards must protect all New Zealanders – regardless of platform
Rights Aotearoa commends BSA for closing regulatory loophole
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 15, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
pault.bsky.social
• Ignore our domestic and international human rights obligations • Cripple public service effectiveness • Completely throw Te Tiriti o Waitangi out the window. 25. So what would Eddie Jones say about this bill (LBS had rules about confidentiality, so I can’t repeat verbatim) – but based on what he has publicly said many times–he would say it’s a losing formula. His approach to building high-performance teams was categorically diverse, because there are always high-performing individuals available, but making them into a team is the hard part. He also consistently emphasises the importance of authenticity and psychological safety in his comments – DEI is critical to enabling these. His comments on psychological safety also mirror Google’s breaking work on what makes effective teams and organisations. Paul McGinley also emphasised the importance of psychological safety for teams – and he famously built an amazing team to win the Ryder Cup. 26. So, honourable committee members, I contend that DEI is the winning formula for both rugby teams and the public service. 27. Thank you for listening to me and tolerating my diversions but LBS did really make quite the progressive impression on me, and I hope I have persuaded the committee that removing the current DEI provisions is an absolute folly, and you must recommend those clauses of the bill be completely expunged before this bill goes to its next reading.
October 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
pault.bsky.social
Here are my prepared remarks - I won't speak to all of my content as it's slightly too long.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that Rights Aotearoa has updated its house font from Helvetica Neue to Helvetica Now.
Kia ora koutou katoa Ms Belich and honourable committee members, 1. I am Paul Thistoll, CEO of Rights Aotearoa. I appear before you today to deliver what I hope will be the most important testimony you hear on this Bill. I contend I am uniquely qualified to comment on this proposed legislation because I am both a human rights professional and the holder of a Master’s degree in business strategy, organisational science, and leadership from LBS - London Business School. This proposed legislation engages issues at the intersection of human rights and organisational strategy. 2. I am very proud of having been accepted into LBS, it was an extremely competitive entry process and completing the full-time taught degree onsite in London for a year was one of the most intense work periods of my life. I attended intimate talks from dozens of leaders and a few sports coaches – two I remember vividly were Paul McGinley – the European Ryder Cup captain and Eddie Jones on how to build high-performing teams. 3. But now I sit before you, back in Aotearoa, a kiwi commenting on a proposed Bill which — in my opinion — represents one of the most catastrophically evidence-defying pieces of legislation ever proposed in New Zealand's history. I do not make this statement lightly. I make it based on decades of world-leading organisational research that this Bill completely ignores. So let’s crack into it. 4. The first and overarching reason that we should reject the Diversity, equity and inclusions (DEI)-destroying provisions of this bill is that they are based on an entirely false Premise. 5. The Bill's proponents claim diversity undermines merit. This is demonstrably, empirically, categorically false. I will now present extremely strong evidence from London Business School - one of the world's premier business research institutions - that demonstrates the exact opposite. 6. Professor Herminia Ibarra's Research: The Architecture of Exclusion: Professor Herminia organisations don't achieve merit-based selection. They achieve homogeneity through unconscious exclusion. Old white men exclude minorities unconsciously through patterns of behaviour. 7. Consider her findings: • Senior leaders unconsciously sponsor protégés who remind them of themselves • Women receive 75% fewer high-visibility assignments critical for advancement • Performance criteria systematically favour stereotypically masculine traits • Without structured DEI interventions, informal networks exclude diverse talent This isn't ideology. This is peer-reviewed, longitudinal research across thousands of organisations. 8. Ibarra's concept of the "authenticity paradox" is particularly damning for this Bill. When marginalised people are told to "just be yourself" in workplaces designed for others, they face an impossible choice: conform and lose their identity, or remain authentic and be excluded. DEI frameworks resolve this paradox by broadening what leadership looks like. 9. Removing these frameworks doesn't enhance merit - it restores the old boys' network. We end up with a public sector that looks like the Vienna Philharmonic – not the New York Phil. (Famously, the New York-based orchestra much more closely resembles the output of global and American music schools, whilst the Vienna-based orchestra looks more like our PM.) 10. Professor Ioannis Ioannou's Research: The Performance Imperative: Now let me present Professor Ioannou's groundbreaking research on organisational performance. His 18-year longitudinal study, published in Management Science, tracked companies that adopted comprehensive ESG principles - of which DEI is a critical component. 11. The results: • High Sustainability companies showed 4.8% higher annual returns • Superior return on assets and equity • Better operational efficiency • Greater resilience during economic downturns Let me be crystal clear: organisations with strong DEI frameworks financially outperform those without them. This isn't correlation. Ioannou's research establishes causation through sophisticated econometric analysis. Companies in the top quartile for diversity show 36% higher profitability. While public service doesn't measure profit, equivalent gains in efficiency and effectiveness would transform government performance. 13. The Bill's proposal to eliminate DEI is equivalent to a high-performing company suddenly abandoning its winning strategy. In the private sector, this would be considered managerial malpractice. Directors would be sued for breach of fiduciary duty. --------- (keep 14 and 15 unread and in reserve) 14. ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE (Can refer to in questions)The McKinsey Evidence: McKinsey's 2023 "Diversity Matters Even More" report analysed 1,265 companies across 23 countries. Companies with gender-diverse executive teams were 39% more likely to outperform. For ethnic diversity, it's 36%. The penalty for homogeneity is growing every year. 15. The Harvard Business Review Meta-Analysis: Thirty years of leadership research confirms: • Diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time • Inclusive cultures show 39% lower turnover • 22% higher productivity • 17% better team performance This is not one study. This is the convergence of thousands of studies across millions of data points. ------------ 16. International Disasters We're About to Repeat: Committee members, we have real-time evidence of what happens when governments eliminate DEI: a. United States Federal Government, 2025: • 23% resignation rate among employees of colour within three months • 78% of terminated DEI positions were women of colour • Service delivery failures spiked 34% • Constitutional crises and ongoing litigation These aren't projections. This is happening right now. And you want to import this kind of disaster to New Zealand? 17. The New Zealand Context: This Bill would: • Breach our Te Tiriti obligations requiring active protection of Māori interests Violate international human rights treaties we've ratified, including CEDAW and ICCPR • Potentially trigger mass resignations costing hundreds of millions • Create legal chaos and years of litigation • Destroy public service capability for a generation (The only government department in favour of this bill will be Crown Law, as they will be in demand managing legal actions against it). 18. I would conservatively estimate the economic cost of this bill to be over 4 billion over the first 5 years of implementation. That's billion with a B. How did I get this number? After subtracting direct transfers (like welfare/superann) and costs of debt financing, the total public sector OPEX spend is about 89 billion NZD a year. So imagine we lose just 2 per cent of productivity and efficiency on that number, and we have 3 per cent more staff turnover. 19. (Extra detail for questions) That includes actual costs, and lost productivity, employee turnover, and efficiency losses and performance and organisational effectiveness hits. That's $250-500 million annually in turnover costs, $500 million in productivity losses, plus litigation and service delivery failures. 20. As well as being qualified in business, I am a human rights professional and in terms of human rights, I tautoko the Human Rights Commission’s excellent written and oral submissions. This bill is both an organisational disaster area and a human rights nightmare. I am focussing on the organisational aspects for time reasons. 21. So to bring this all together – in conclusion: Honourable Committee members, we need to acknowledge the Truth About Merit—true meritocracy cannot exist without mechanisms to identify and eliminate bias. When you remove DEI frameworks, you don't get merit-based selection. You get what Professor Ibarra calls "homophily" - people hiring people like themselves. 22. The false choice between merit and diversity is a con. Excellence requires inclusion. Merit demands diversity.
October 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
pault.bsky.social
You can also find the remarks here.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/oral-submiss...
Oral Submission to the Governance and Administration Select Committee Against The Public Service Amendment Bill 2025
Rights Aotearoa - Paul Thistoll, CEO
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 13, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
pault.bsky.social
Wish me luck, team - I am appearing in front of the Governance and Administration Committee tomorrow at 8am to make my oral submission against the Public Service Amendment Bill.

Once again, it is a bill not grounded in evidence. DEI is crucial for avoiding bias in organisations.
Governance and Administration Subcommittee A 8.00am - 1.45pm Room 5, Parliament House Public Service Amendment Bill 8.00am - 9.00am Rights Aotearoa 8.00am - 8.10am Paul Thistoll, CEO Trust Democracy 8.10am - 8.20am Simon Right, Chair Professor Jonathan Boston 8.20am - 8.25am Interested Citizens Group - Hamilton 8.25am - 8.35am
October 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
🔽🔽🔽Emergency media release 🔽🔽🔽

The F&E select committee reported back yesterday.
98.7% of 166k submissions against the Regulatory Standards Bill.

But the Govt is going ahead.

"This is an attempted constitutional coup d'état by other means." - Paul Thistoll

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Rights Aotearoa calls for united Opposition commitment to repeal the Regulatory Standards Act in the first 30 days of any future left-wing coalition government, should the Bill become l...
The select committee's report, released yesterday, represents only cosmetic adjustments to legislation that remains fundamentally unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and catastrophically harmful to hum...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 11, 2025 at 12:26 AM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Are you subscribed to our mailing list? Please sign up to get a weekly newsletter and occasional other dispatches from the front lines of the defence of human rights.

Sign up using the link in this week's newsletter 🔽🔽🔽

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...
Rights Aotearoa Newsletter #3
It's Been a Week
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 8, 2025 at 8:04 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
This bill is so badly worded at present, there is no way to know beforehand whether you are breaking the law. It's Kafka-esque.
It doesn't define 'near'. It's amateur hour.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: "Discomfort Is Not Harm": Rights Group Slams Bill That Would Jail Peaceful Protesters to Shield Politicians from Accountability
A Government bill that would see peaceful protesters jailed for up to three months represents a dangerous attack on democratic accountability and will disproportionately silence marginalised communiti...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 7, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
pault.bsky.social
Small favour: sign up for the Rights Aotearoa mailing list at

👉 www.rightsaotearoa.nz

It’ll be our main communications channel in the future (besides BSky): a weekly Thursday newsletter + the occasional urgent human rights hot take.

No spam, NO YELLING, just substance.
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social Rights Aotearoa @rightsaotearoa.bsky.social · Sep 28
We were on Ghost.io before it was made fashionable by Farrier ;-)

We just sent out our first Ghost-hosted newsletter, though just now.

Please read and then sign up! :-)

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...
Rights Aotearoa Weekly Newsletter #1
Welcome to our very first newsletter hosted on Ghost.io
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
September 28, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Rights Aotearoa
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Rights Aotearoa has written to Dr Rainbow, urging the HRC, under his leadership, to publicly call on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the Ia Tangata report, and to do so by reference to New Zealand’s binding international human rights obligations.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/letter-to-th...
Letter to the Chief Human Rights Commissioner re Ia Tangata
I respectfully write to urge the Commission, under your leadership, to publicly call on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the Law Commission’s Ia Tangata report, and to do so by reference...
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
September 23, 2025 at 11:23 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Rights Aotearoa welcomes Race Relations Commissioner Dr Melissa Derby’s comments that hate speech protections must extend to religious groups and LGBTQIA+ Communities
Rights Aotearoa welcomes Race Relations Commissioner Dr Melissa Derby’s comments on TVNZ's Q&A program yesterday.
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
Rights Aotearoa welcomes Melissa Derby's support for extending hate speech protections to include religious groups and the LGBTQIA+ community, as expressed in her appearance on TVNZ's Q+A this morning.
She explicitly said that the LGB included the 'T'
RA will issue a formal press release tomorrow.
October 4, 2025 at 10:59 PM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
"When someone argues that fewer trans people should exist, when they liken... healthcare to child abuse, when they advocate criminal penalties for doctors following...best practice —That is .... eliminationist rhetoric dressed up in the language of concern."
www.rightsaotearoa.nz/media-releas...
Media Release: Rights Aotearoa utterly condemns the Free Speech Union for bringing anti-transgender campaigner Helen Joyce to New Zealand
For immediate release 2 October 2025
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 2, 2025 at 12:19 AM
rightsaotearoa.bsky.social
We just sent out our second newsletter. Please share and sign up - our focus right now is on building up our newsletter subscriber base organically.

www.rightsaotearoa.nz/rights-aotea...
Rights Aotearoa Newsletter #2
Let's build a community around universal human rights
www.rightsaotearoa.nz
October 1, 2025 at 9:22 PM