'We need more people standing up for human rights'

The outgoing acting Human Rights Commissioner of New Zealand says she wants to focus on the Pacific region when her role at Te Kahui Tika Tangata ends this year.

Saunoamali’i Karanina Sumeo's term as Acting Race Relations and Equal Employment Opportunities commissioner will also end in November.

She told PMN Tuvalu that she first plans to spend some time at home, taking care of her elderly uncle, before "doing something in the Pacific in the new year.

"I'm quite passionate about our Pacific region. Lots of geopolitics going on and lots of human rights concerns that are now emerging as a result of this fight over the Pacific.

"There's a lot of interest in our region and sometimes I worry that Pacific nations are participants as opposed to being, you know, powerful partners. It's really important that we recognise we have a lot of wealth and a lot of power and not just be strung along because of the bigger nations. We are powerful in ourselves.

Saunoamali’i Karanina Sumeo says she is concerned about human rights in the Pacific region. Photo/PIF

"I'm quite concerned about the human rights, the future of human rights in the Pacific. Unfortunately, we don't have many human rights commissions in the Pacific apart from Australia, us, Fiji, and Sāmoa. Tuvalu doesn't have one. We did have a couple of people in it, it kind of finished. I don't know what happened to our ombudsman.

"We need to have more people standing up for human rights to push against some of the things that are happening, not only around climate change and the impact of big business. There's so much stuff that we can do.

"I'm passionate about our homeland in the Pacific and I want to do, I want to be useful in terms of the protection of our rights. So that's what I'm looking at in the future."

Sumeo, who has been at the commission for six years, says a good place to start in the region is pay equity, the Pacific pay gap.

As the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, she has been leading the push for pay equity in Aotearoa.

Fed up with waiting, the employment rights watchdog launched her own inquiry in 2020 into New Zealand's lowest-paid workers - Pacific people.

Photo/HRC

The last time the EEOC took such a step was in 2012. The findings of the 2020 inquiry, released in 2023, showed that for every $1 a Pākehā man earns, a Pacific woman gets 75c. Sumeo says that's not good enough.

According to Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, the gender pay gap is at its lowest level ever - falling from 12.2 per cent in 2018 to 7.1 per cent in 2023. The Māori pay gap has also fallen substantially from 11.2 per cent (2018) to 5.4 per cent in 2023. The Pacific pay gap is down too from 21.6 per cent (2018) to 16.6 per cent last year, however, remaining higher than for other groups.

Sumeo says Pacific people continue to be paid less, on average, compared to other ethnic groups, "despite our loyalty, we tend to stay and we go over and above our roles and over and above what we're paid for. Because we take our work personally, it's a matter of pride for us.

"And we care about people around us. So it's a personal thing. It's not just clocking in, you know, to be paid your hourly rent and go. And yet our people continually are paid the least. So that national inquiry, looking at why is this happening and then what can we do and what can unions do? What can government do? What can businesses do? You know, without waiting for a law."

Sumeo has welcomed the new Māori monarch, saying she hopes the young Kuini Nga Wai Hono i Te Po Paki will continue her late father's legacy of uniting, not just tangata whenua but Pasifika and all of Aotearoa.

The 27-year-old queen was hailed as the new Māori monarch as her father Tuheitia, the king of Kotahitanga, was buried at Taupiri Maunga last week.

Māori Kuini Ngā Wai Hono i te Po Paki. Photo/Kiingitanga - Waikato District Council

"And this king, Tuheitia, he wasn't stirring emotion. What he wanted to do was to calm people down and say, let's come together and let's unify, and let's talk about stuff. So that I think sets a good platform for his daughter.

"There are lots of very prominent Māori women in the business world, in politics, in civil society who will be right next to her to make sure to guide her and to protect her from the burdens that come with being in the leadership role. Lots of expectations of her.

"She has come from a family -her grandmother was the reason, the queen. So she's no stranger to high profile. She's no stranger to pressure. So let's give her our blessings and all those going to support her because we need unity and harmony for Aotearoa to go forward.

"She's a very young leader. The world to them is so big and it's so full of opportunity and full of challenge. I think she will bring that perspective. We've been pushing for equality and equity, and our young people come into a world where they don't expect to fight for it. Our generations, we had to fight to climb that ladder.

"I think it's a good thing for our children, it's a good thing for Māori, and I think it'll be a great thing for Pasifika as well, you know, as close cousins to our Māori whānau. It's really important that we stay close and support her and support the movement because I'm optimistic that this is going to be a positive thing for everybody."

Watch Saunoamali’i Karanina Sumeo's full interview below.