Commission launches major report card on human rights
Human Rights Commission
Media
release
Embargoed until 5am 10 December
2010
Commission launches major report card on human rights
Poverty, entrenched inequality and discrimination are critical human rights issues in New Zealand according to a major report card Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 released by the Human Rights Commission today.
Chief Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan says, “The 30 priority areas for action over the next five years will strengthen human rights protections and better ensure the equality and security of everyone in New Zealand”.
The priority areas involve a major focus on
economic, social and cultural rights, covering health,
education, equal employment opportunities, social security
and housing. They include:
• strengthening New
Zealand’s constitutional and legal framework
•
tackling entrenched inequalities and systemic structural
discrimination
• explicitly and effectively
implementing civil and political and economic, social and
cultural rights.
A key recommendation in Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 is for Parliament to establish a Human Rights Select Committee to strengthen Parliament’s focus on protecting human rights. Other recommendations include reducing child poverty through a coordinated and integrated approach, with a specific attention to Māori children, Pacific and disabled children; increasing the supply and diversity of social housing; and reviewing and addressing the adequacy of core benefit rates.
“What is clear from this report card,” says Ms Noonan, “is that human rights matter. In tough economic times a robust national human rights framework is more important than ever to ensure basic security and a fair go for every New Zealander. Their realisation is vital to our expectations about life, education, health, work, our personal security, equal opportunity and fair treatment, and to our system of government.”
Ms Noonan said “A roof over your head, a fair work environment and social protections when you are unemployed or ill are basic rights. It’s in everyone’s interest that the enduring cycle of poverty be broken.”
In selecting the priorities for action, the Commission recognised that responsibility for respecting human rights extends well beyond central government – to regional and local government, business and community sectors, and voluntary groups and organisations.
“Individuals, community groups and other civil society organisations play a critical role in creating an environment of respect for human rights and harmonious race relations,” says Ms Noonan.
Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 confirms that New Zealand continues to meet international human rights standards in many respects, and often surpasses them. It shows some steady improvements since 2004, but also reveals the fragility of some of those gains and areas where progress has been reversed.
“It is clear that there is no room for complacency and that New Zealand continues to face serious human rights challenges. They are challenges, however, that can be met where there is political will and strong civil society commitment and engagement,” says Ms Noonan.
Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 is the second comprehensive report on human rights undertaken by the Commission to assess how well New Zealand meets international human rights standards. It updates the first report, published in 2004.
The Commission has chosen to launch Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 on International Human Rights Day, 10 December, which marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in 1948. This year the international theme is “Speak up-Stop Discrimination.”
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Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 is available on the Commission’s website:click here
[Scoop copies:
Human_Rights_Review_2010_Summary.pdf
08Dec2010_132628_30_Priority_Areas.pdf
Human_Rights_Review_2010_Full.pdf]
Thirty priority areas for action on human rights in New Zealand
Chapter/section | Heading | Priority area | |
SECTION ONE – GENERAL | |||
1 | International human rights framework | Parliament | Strengthening Parliament’s human rights responsibilities by establishing a Human Rights Select Committee and tabling human rights reports in Parliament. |
2 | Civil society | Establishing a fund to support civil society participation in international human rights mechanisms. | |
3 | Equality and freedom from discrimination | Substantive equality | Incorporating a specific reference to equality in the Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act. |
4 | Human rights and the Treaty of Waitangi | Pathways to partnership | Developing and implementing new pathways to partnership between Tangata Whenua and the Crown. |
5 | Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples | Promoting awareness of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand. | |
6 | Human rights and race relations | Structural discrimination | Investigating the extent to which structural discrimination underlies entrenched racial inequalities and developing programmes to address it. |
7 | Languages | Developing and implementing a national languages policy. | |
SECTION TWO – CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS | |||
8 | Democratic rights | Representation | Increasing the representation of Māori, Pacific and other ethnic groups in local government. |
9 | Right to justice | Evidence from vulnerable people | Developing more appropriate methods for taking and recording of evidence from vulnerable victims and witnesses in criminal proceedings. |
10 | Life, liberty and security of person | Programme of action | Implementing in partnership with civil society a comprehensive strategy and programme of action to address the drivers of crime. |
11 | Freedom of opinion and expression | Section 61, Human Rights Act 1993 | Reviewing section 61 of the Human Rights Act to ensure it fulfils its legislative purpose. |
12 | Human rights and the Internet | Promoting debate about access to the Internet as a human right and a Charter of Internet Rights. | |
13 | Freedom of religion and belief | Guidelines | Developing guidelines for respecting diversity of religion and belief in specific contexts. |
SECTION THREE – ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS | |||
14 | Right to health | Capacity | Amending the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 to better reflect the concept of capacity in line with international standards. |
15 | Right to education | Human rights values | Implementing the human rights values explicit in the New Zealand Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and Te Whāriki, ensuring that early childhood services and schools respect diversity, are free from violence and enable full participation by children and young people. |
16 | Right to work | Equal Employment Opportunities framework | Implementing a new framework for equal employment opportunities that addresses access to decent work for disadvantaged groups such as Māori, Pacific youth, and disabled people. |
17 | Right to housing | Homelessness | Developing and implementing regional and national strategies to reduce homelessness. |
18 | Social housing provision | Increasing the supply and diversity of social housing. | |
19 | Right to social security | Poverty Reduction | Reducing child poverty through a co-ordinated and integrated approach, with specific attention to Māori, Pacific and disabled children. |
20 | Adequacy of core benefits | Reviewing and addressing the adequacy of core benefit rates. | |
SECTION FOUR – RIGHTS OF SPECIFIC GROUPS | |||
21 | Rights of children and young people | United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child obligations | Ensuring that legislation reflects New Zealand’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including recognising the interests of the child, the age of criminal responsibility, protection under the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act, age discrimination protections and adoption procedures. |
22 | Participation | Increasing avenues for children to participate and have their views heard. | |
23 | Rights of disabled people | Measuring outcomes | Developing a full range of social statistics to ensure key outcomes for disabled people are measured. |
24 | Implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | Ensuring an integrated and co-ordinated Government response to implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with the full participation of disabled people. | |
25 | Rights of women | Pay and employment equity | Timetabling pay and employment equity implementation with a minimum target of halving the gender pay gap by 2014 and eliminating it by 2020. |
26 | Sexual and family violence | Reducing sexual and family violence through target setting and fully resourcing a national programme of action. | |
27 | Rights of sexual and gender minorities | Legal equality | Completing the legislative steps required for formal legal equality, including rights to found and form a family, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. |
28 | Rights of migrants | Employment | Addressing barriers to the employment of migrants, and ensuring the rights of temporary, seasonal and rural workers and those on work-to-residence visas are respected. |
29 | Rights of refugees | Comprehensive strategy | Completing a comprehensive whole of government resettlement strategy for convention refugees, quota refugees and family reunification. |
30 | Rights of people who are detained | Māori imprisonment | Committing to specific targets and timelines for reducing the disproportionate number of Māori in prison. |
ENDS