Valmaine Toki

Valmaine Toki is a New Zealand barrister, solicitor, author, Māori rights advocate and academic. Toki is Professor of Law at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.

In 2009, Toki drew attention to the historical and ongoing challenges of Māori representation in Auckland's governance, criticizing the government's rejection of the Royal Commission's recommendation for dedicated Māori seats on the Auckland Council. In 2022 she was appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), as an independent expert, and the first New Zealander and Māori appointee. In July 2024, she was appointed chair of EMRIP.

Early life and education Toki is a Māori woman, of Ngati Rehua, Ngati Wai, Ngāpuhi and Ngati Whatua descent.

Toki studied law at the University of Auckland, followed by a master's degree as a He Ture Pumau Scholar in business administration at the University of Tasmania, Australia, supported by the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission. Her master's focused on marine resources management.

Career Toki worked for Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd on Māori fisheries, aquaculture, and asset allocation. In 2007 she was appointed to a law lecturer position at the University of Auckland and taught in the areas of contemporary Treaty of Waitangi and Māori issues, jurisprudence and legal method.

In 2011, Toki was the first New Zealander and first Māori appointed by the President of the UN Economic and Social Council as an independent expert on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues where she served two terms of three years. In 2022, She was appointed by the president of the UN Human Rights Council to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Issues. Toki also became the first Māori and first New Zealander to hold the title.

In 2012 Toki commenced her role at Te Piringa, Faculty of Law, University of Waikato where she remains as of 2024.

In 2018, her book Indigenous courts, self-determination and criminal justice was published and advocates for the establishment of a marae-based Indigenous court in New Zealand.

In 2023, she delivered the annual Dame Silvia Cartwright lecture on the recognition of Indigenous Rights for the Auckland Women’s Lawyers Association.

In 2024, her book Indigenous rights, climate change and governance: Measuring success and data published by Edward Elgar Publishing she explores the how Indigenous rights are recognised to ameliorate the adverse effects of climate change, within Artificial Intelligence and an Indigenous right to space.

On July 8 2024, Toki was appointed Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP).

On Tikanga Māori Toki understands Tikanga Māori as the correct way of doing things and derived from cosmology, customs and practices. She highlights that Tikanga is a fluid system influenced by context, encompassing mechanisms such as mana, tapu, and mauri, which regulate relationships to achieve balance. Toki emphasizes that for Tikanga to adapt to societal changes it must retain its foundational principles. In an interview to Aoetea, she reflected on her time at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where she implemented Tikanga principles in international policy work.

Selected publications Books Toki, Valmaine (2024). Indigenous rights, climate change and governance: Measuring success and data. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Selected peer reviewed articles Toki, Valmaine ‘Recognition and relevance of Indigenous Rights – Dame Silvia Cartwright Lecture ‘NZWLJ 2024 v 8, pp 240 – 256. Toki, Valmaine. ‘The place of tikanga’ NZULR 2023, v 30 (3), pp 457 – 472. Toki, Valmaine, and Durgeshree Raman. "Indigenous and Minority Activism under the United Nations." International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 1 (2024): 19. Toki, Valmaine. "Is There an Indigenous Right to Space?" The Transnational Journal of Aviation and Space Laws (TJASL), Centre for Aviation and Space Laws, 2021. Toki, Valmaine. "Respecting and recognising Indigenous rights when challenged by commercial activities." International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies 10, no. 1 (2017): 1-17. Toki, Valmaine. "Seeking Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples." Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence 15 (2017): 25-45. Toki, Valmaine. "Understanding a Critical Indigenous Law Perspective to Intellectual Property." Intellectual Property Quarterly, no. 4 (2017): 369-381. Toki, Valmaine. "Legal responses to mental health: Is therapeutic jurisprudence the answer–the experience in New Zealand." (2017): 1-18. Toki, K. R. (2017). "The Maori economy and access to justice." Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence, 15, 102-117. Beaton, Angela, Maui Hudson, Moe Milne, Ramari Viola Port, Khyla Russell, Barry Smith, Valmaine Toki et al. "Engaging Māori in biobanking and genomic research: a model for biobanks to guide culturally informed governance, operational, and community engagement activities." Genetics in Medicine 19, no. 3 (2017): 345-351. Toki, Valmaine. "Maori seeking self-determination or Tino Rangatiratanga? A note." (2017): 134-144. Toki, Valmaine. "Decolonization and the Right of Self-Determination for the Pacific." In Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, edited by Austin Sarat, Vol. 70, 181-207. Leeds: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016. Hudson, Maui, Khyla Russell, Lynley Uerata, Moe Milne, Phillip Wilcox, Ramari Viola Port, Barry Smith, Valmaine Toki, and Angela Beaton. "Te Mata Ira—Faces of the Gene: Developing a cultural foundation for biobanking and genomic research involving Māori." AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 12, no. 4 (2016): 341-355. Beaton, Angela, Barry Smith, Valmaine Toki, Kim Southey, and Maui Hudson. "Engaging Maori in Biobanking and Genetic Research." International Indigenous Policy Journal 6, no. 3 (2015): 1-19. Valmaine, Toki. "Unpacking Indigenous Rights." Acta Humana–Emberi Jogi Közlemények 3, no. Special Edition (2015): 85-98. Toki, Valmaine. "‘Tikanga Maori–a constitutional right’? A case study." Commonwealth law bulletin 40, no. 1 (2014): 32-48. Toki, Valmaine. "Therapeutic jurisprudence and mental health courts for Maori." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 33, no. 5-6 (2010): 440-447. Toki, Valmaine. "Adopting a Maori property rights approach to fisheries." NZJ Envtl. L. 14 (2010): 197. Toki, Valmaine. "Are Domestic Violence Courts working for indigenous peoples?." Commonwealth law bulletin 35, no. 2 (2009): 259-290.

Selected peer-reviewed UN reports

Toki, Valmaine. "Study on Decolonialization of the Pacific Region." United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Twelfth Session, New York, May 20-31, 2013. E/C.19/2013/12. Toki, Valmaine, Megan Davis, Simon William M’Viboudoulou, Paul Kanyinke Sena, Edward John, Álvaro Esteban Pop Ac, and Raja Devasish Roy. "A Study on National Constitutions and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Twelfth Session, New York, May 20-31, 2013. E/C.19/2013/18.