AIANZ PRESENTATION ON AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND’S UPR TO FOREIGN AMBASSADORS

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AIANZ PRESENTATION ON AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND’S UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW TO FOREIGN AMBASSADORS

7 March 2024

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Thank you for the opportunity to present today. We will focus on concerns relating to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the prison system and children’s rights. 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

The state of human rights in Aotearoa has been hugely shaped and impacted by the past and ongoing harms caused by colonisation and the Government’s failure to honour He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Since Aotearoa’s 2019 UPR review, multiple Waitangi Tribunal reports have highlighted breaches of the Crown’s obligations to Māori under Te Tiriti including in health, housing, and the state’s care of children.

We recommend that the Government in partnership with Māori must:

  • Progress work to honour He Whakaputanga, and uphold the Crown’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
  • Urgently restore work on the National Action Plan to implement UNDRIP.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

We are seeing human rights issues across the prison system, from a failure to meet minimum entitlements, misuse of pepper spray and restraints to serious concerns about prolonged solitary confinement. Māori continue to be disproportionately represented in the justice system.

While broader change is required, an effective and transparent recording, reporting and monitoring system is fundamental. to ensuring people are receiving their rights. We are very concerned by the current system. Significant failures have been highlighted numerous times, including by the Office of the Inspectorate in 2023, where inadequate data meant that they were unable to make a finding on whether prolonged solitary confinement was occurring.

We recommend that the New Zealand Government:

  • Urgently address the disproportionate impact the justice system has on Māori
  • Prioritise addressing ongoing human rights issues in the criminal justice system and
  • Take action to ensure effective, nationally consistent monitoring and reporting across the prison network. We also want to see more information reported publicly, and more regularly.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

There are significant human rights issues occurring in the care and protection system and youth justice.

We recommend that the Government must:

  • Raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to least 14;
  • Close care and protection and youth justice residences, in favour of more fit for purpose approaches;
  • Prioritise the wellbeing and wraparound support of children, young people and their communities, with iwi, hapū and community-led solutions.