July 28, 2021
Whakapapa connection critical for Isis children
Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is backing the Government’s approach to taking back a New Zealand born woman detained by Turkey after spending time with Isis in Syria.
Cabinet had agreed to a “managed return” of 26-year-old Suhayra Aden and her two children.
Ms Aden left for Syria from Australia, where she had been since she was six and held dual citizenship, which the Australian Government cancelled in February – Meaning Aotearoa is the only place she can come back to.
Ms Ngarewa Packer says the Māori view is the connection of mokopuna to whakapapa is important, no matter how mum and dad have chosen to live.
“We don’t judge and disconnect our whakapapa based on a relationship based on different beliefs and I think he tangata tapu – first and foremost we need to think of the oranga of our whānau and the oranga of our whenua,” Ms Ngarewa Packer says.
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