CHRI Newsletter

New Zealand Embraces ‘Extreme Democracy’

Daniel Woods
Coordinator, Police Programme International, CHRI

On 26 September 2007, the New Zealand police opened up a wiki that allowed members of the community to help draft the country’s new Police Act. This was a radical shift away from the traditional approach to legal drafting; rather than policy discussions taking place along the government halls and inside political offices, they would take place in an open forum; open to community appraisal and open to community involvement.

Hamish McCardle, New Zealand Police Superintendent, suggested that the wiki was “extreme democracy” and said that drafting new legislation “shouldn’t just be the sole reserve of politicians”. In practical terms, the wiki was a website that displayed a skeleton Police Act put together by the New Zealand Police Act Review Team. During New Zealand business hours, the Act was opened up for comment, additions and changes – all a user had to do was log on to the site, read the section they were interested in, and then offer amendments, comments and alternatives, that were then published for other users to read and respond to. Changes were moderated by Police Act Review staff, as well as other users accessing the site, to prevent electronic vandalism.

There was an immediate response from global media and online communities, who lauded the project as an important first step towards the realisation of more open government using the world wide web. Hits on the wiki increased exponentially as it was profiled on major news sites, and then by high profile online communities.

The wiki closed for comment within four days. Reading between the lines, it appears that it was a victim of its own popularity and the broad base of its contributors. The Review Team smoothed out the draft law, and user comments, and have developed a second generation wiki, which is now open to identified international and New Zealand policing experts and commentators, to further refine the law.

The police wiki’s moment in the sun was brief, but is a demonstration of how new forms of electronic media will enable greater community participation in government and impact on the way that laws are made in the future. As Laurel Papworth, a social networks strategist was quoted in the Australian Age newspaper, “It empowers the voters to have a voice not just a vote, so that they are actually contributing to the dialogue and not just voting on the outcome.” CHRI made a submission to an earlier stage of the New Zealand Police Act Review. To read CHRI’s submission, visit the CHRI website, or request an electronic copy by emailing Daniel Woods (daniel@humanrightsinitiative.org).

Stamping Out Rights:
CHRI releases 2007 report to the Commonwealth on the impact of anti-terrorism laws on policing

CHRI released its 2007 report to the Commonwealth, Stamping Out Rights: The impact of anti-terrorism laws on policing, as part of this year’s Commonwealth Human Rights Forum in Kampala, Uganda, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

In the foreword to Stamping Out Rights, In the foreword to Stamping Out Rights, Sam Okudzeto, Chair of the CHRI International Advisory Commission, comments on terrorism, looking at both its nature and the most effective way for states to respond to it.

“Terrorism, in its various forms of organised violence against the state and against the civilian population, has a long history. What has changed is the response to it. Once restricted within national borders, terrorism has now been labeled a global phenomenon and there is tremendous international pressure from powerful states and institutions to respond to it through law, policy and measures on the ground. The sub-text is that it does not matter how it is done provided the menace of terrorism is eliminated. That menace itself is seen only in terms of the violence and havoc that attacks can wreak and not as the insidious ways in which state responses can in fact encourage and abet the cause of terrorists.

By its very nature terrorism is grounded in the notion of lawlessness while the validity of the state is founded on the rule of law, ability to safeguard people against every kind of depredation and ensure justice for all.

CHRI believes that the best and indeed the only way to fight terrorism is to ensure the rule of law, civil liberties, access to justice, people’s participation in governance and better governance based on accountability, transparency and celebration of diversity. CHRI contends that these values and human rights cannot be sacrificed in the name of security. CHRI is concerned that across the Commonwealth political expediency and the need to be seen doing something to fight terrorism – however ineffectual the reality of that course – is increased disrespect for established international norms of state behaviour and consequently providing aid and succour to the terrorists’ cause.”

For more information, access an electronic copy of Stamping Out Rights from the CHRI website, or request a hardcopy by emailing Mohan Sundaram at CHRI (mohan@humanrightsinitiative.org).