CCPR/C/70/D/547/1993 Page 11 Covenant, the State party submits that the authors’ complaint is fundamentally misconceived and amounts to an attempt to import into the Article a content which is not consistent with the language of the Article and which was not intended at the time the Covenant was drafted. According to the State party, Article 14 does not provide a general right of access to courts in the absence of rights and jurisdiction recognised by law. Rather Article 14 sets out procedural standards which must be upheld to ensure the proper administration of justice. The requirements of Article 14 do not arise in a vacuum. The State party submits that the introductory words of the Article make it clear that the guarantee of those procedural standards arises only when criminal or civil proceedings are in prospect; that is, when there is a legal cause of action to be tried in a court of competent jurisdiction. The consequence of the position put forward by the authors would be that a State’s legislature could not determine the jurisdiction of its Courts and the Committee would be involved in making substantive decisions on the justiciability of rights in domestic legal systems which extend far beyond the guarantees in the Covenant. 7.8 The State party adds that the authors’ complaint seeks to obscure the central element of the 1992 Settlement. In the State party’s opinion, the authors’ argument that the Settlement extinguished a right to go to court in respect of pre-existing claims ignores the fact that the Settlement in fact settled those claims by transforming them into a guaranteed entitlement to participate in the commercial fisheries. Since those claims had been settled, by definition there could no longer be a right to go to court to seek a further expansion of those rights. The State party explains, however, that while any pre-existing claims can no longer found a cause of action, Maori fisheries issues do remain within the jurisdiction of the courts. Decisions of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission regarding the allocation of the benefits of the Settlement are subject to review by the courts in the same manner as decisions of any other statutory body. Likewise the regulations regarding customary fishing rights and decisions taken pursuant to these regulations are reviewable by the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal. Recent litigation before the New Zealand courts, including that before the Court of Appeal regarding the extent to which urban Maori who are unaffiliated with iwi structures have the right to benefit from the Settlement and regarding a proposed allocation of benefit of the Settlement, demonstrate conclusively that access to the courts remains. In addition, Maori who are engaged in fishing activities have exactly the same rights as any other New Zealander to go to court to challenge decisions of the Government which affect those rights or to seek protection of those rights from encroachment by others. 7.9 In conclusion, the State party asserts that the Fisheries Settlement has not breached the rights of the authors, or of any other Maori, under the Covenant. On the contrary, the State party submits that the Settlement should be regarded as one of the most positive achievements in recent years in securing the recognition of Maori rights in conformity with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The State party states that it is committed to resolve and settle Maori grievances in an honourable and equitable manner. It acknowledges that any such settlements, which require a degree of compromise and accommodation on both sides, are unlikely to attract unanimous support from Maori. In this context, it states that the Settlement did not have unanimous support from non- Maori New Zealanders either. Indeed, it was evident from public reaction at the time that a significant proportion of non- Maori New Zealanders were opposed to the Settlement and did not accept that Maori should be accorded distinctive rights to the New Zealand fisheries. However, the State party observes that it cannot allow itself to be