{"id":63253,"date":"2024-04-15T11:23:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T23:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=63253"},"modified":"2025-06-25T01:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:38:13","slug":"whales-legal-personhood-would-include-right-to-sue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/whales-legal-personhood-would-include-right-to-sue\/","title":{"rendered":"What if whales took us to court? A move to grant them legal personhood would include the right to\u00a0sue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a groundbreaking declaration earlier this month, Indigenous leaders of New Zealand and the Cook Islands signed a treaty, He Whakaputanga Moana, to recognise whales as legal persons<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"A
A Humpback whale breaches off a reef in the Southern Great Barrier reef on its Southern Migration, Queensland, Australia. Humpback whales travel huge distances from the warm waters of the great barrier reef on the east coast of Australia to icy waters of the southern Ocean off Antarctic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Aotearoa New Zealand has already granted legal personhood to a river (Te Awa Tupua Whanganui River<\/a>), land (Te Urewera<\/a>) and a mountain (Taranaki maunga<\/a>), but He Whakaputanga Moana differs from these earlier processes. It is based in customary law, or tikanga M\u0101ori, rather than Crown law.<\/p>\n\n

The declaration seeks to protect the rights of whales (tohor\u0101) to migrate freely and to use m\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori<\/a> alongside science for better protections. It also aims to set up a dedicated fund for whale conservation.<\/p>\n\n

But a core concept of legal personhood is the idea that the \u201cperson\u201d (in this case, whales) can sue to protect their rights.<\/p>\n\n

The declaration was signed by King Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII of the Kiingitanga movement, Lisa Tumahai who chairs the Hinemoana Halo Ocean<\/a> initiative, and the Cook Islands leader Kaumaiti Nui Travel Tou Ariki.<\/p>\n\n

It recognises traditional M\u0101ori and Pasifika ideas about the importance of whales<\/a> as ancestral beings. King Tuuheitia described it as \u201ca woven cloak of protection for our taonga\u201d, noting the presence of whales \u201creflects the strength of our own mana\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

While He Whakaputanga Moana is not a pan-M\u0101ori declaration, mana is a shared core concept of tikanga M\u0101ori, representing authority and power.<\/p>\n\n

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The Luxon Government’s intention to invite the return of oil exploration could mean more harm to whales from seismic blasting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n