The warning signs for yesterday’s atrocity were everywhere, if only we’d looked – or listened to New Zealand’s Muslim community, writes former race relations commissioner Susan Devoy. A few weeks ago a good friend rang me to say her family and friends had once again been threatened by racist, anonymous strangers. The fear in her … Read more
This week it was announced that Dame Susan Devoy will not be seeking another term as Race Relations Commissioner. Here she pays tribute to her colleagues at the Human Rights Commission, and calls on those who failed staff in relation to sexual harassment allegations to do the right thing and step aside. People who are … Read more
This week I was sent screenshots of hateful, antisemitic Facebook posts. Part of honouring our incredibly brave Holocaust survivors is calling out bigotry wherever we see it, says Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy Last year the Human Rights Commission launched New Zealand’s first anti-racism campaign. It called on everyday Kiwis to recognise the seeds of … Read more
Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy responds to an anti-Semitic speech at an Auckland mosque. People who deny the Holocaust took place are many things, but most of all, they are liars. Whether they are visiting Iranian clerics or whether they are members of a “White Pride” group – they are all liars. Holocaust survivors are … Read more
‘This is not my New Zealand.’ Ahead of her speech to the UN this week, the Race Relations Commissioner calls on politicians to stand on principle and do right by the victims of institutional abuse. Earlier this year I was on the same train in America where a week before a man had murdered two … Read more
Racist abuse is not welcome in our game. By launching We All Bleed Red, Canterbury has courageously become the first union to tackle discrimination head on in this way, writes the race relations commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy Until you’ve run out onto a sports field and had someone call you a “black c—” or an “ape” then you’ll … Read more
We need to stand alongside Muslim New Zealanders in the wake of the US visa ban – and tell our decision makers in no uncertain terms that we will not allow the politics of hatred and bigotry to become normalised here, writes race relations commissioner Susan Devoy. Wellington’s very first UN Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in … Read more
New Zealanders need to stand up for refugees today, just as we did in the past, writes Dame Susan Devoy Seventy-two years ago our Prime Minister and our country took in more than 700 child refugees when no one else would help. They had survived the Third Reich, endured life in Russian work camps and … Read more