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Story: Human rights

The most peaceful nation?

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The most peaceful nation?

New Zealand has an international reputation as a peaceful nation with a good human-rights record. This is reflected in this 2010 cartoon, which appeared after the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international research body, ranked New Zealand as the world's most peaceful country in the institute's global peace index in 2009 and 2010. New Zealand's reputation for peace and upholding human rights is, however, challenged by questions over the rates of violence against women and children, the high rate of youth suicide, the police use of tasers, the high rate of Māori imprisonment and aspects of immigration policies.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: DCDL-0014536

by Mark Winter

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Paul Rishworth, Human rights – International human-rights treaties, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/34484/the-most-peaceful-nation (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Rishworth, published 28 November 2011, updated 1 June 2016.