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Human Rights in New Zealand

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Human Rights in New Zealand Acknowledgements: The New Zealand Law Foundation funded the three year research project and we are enormously grateful for their financial and moral support. We would like to thank the stakeholders who contributed to the research and to those experts who read individual chapters and provided feedback. We appreciate the work of Kyle Stutter of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and Kirsty Whitby in the School of Social Sciences and Public Policy at AUT for money matters. Millie Wall patiently formatted the report and designed the cover. Heidi Jones and Anne-Marie Laure provided valuable research in the early stages of the project. Sir Geoffrey Palmer undertook the overall peer review and John Harvey proof read the report several times. Any errors of fact or grammatical imperfections are ours alone and will be corrected in web-based versions of the report. Contact details: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1 Contents Summary of recommendations ............................................................................................. 9 Chapter One Human Rights ........................................................................................ 11 1 Introduction to human rights .................................................................................................. 11 1.1 A short history of the evolution and development of human rights in New Zealand. ... 12 1.1.1 1948 to 1968 – Period of inaction .................................................................................. 13 1.1.2 1968 – 1990 – Reception of human rights treaties ....................................................... 15 1.1.3 1990 – 2014 – The practice of human rights in law and policy .................................. 16 1.2 Emerging themes ....................................................................................................................... 18 1.3 Why measure human rights? .................................................................................................... 20 1.4 Evaluative frameworks ............................................................................................................. 21 1.5 Methods of data collection ....................................................................................................... 22 1.5.1 Archival analysis of treaty body reporting. .................................................................... 23 1.5.2 Case law analysis ................................................................................................................ 23 1.5.3 Stakeholder interviews ...................................................................................................... 24 1.5.4 Participant observation ..................................................................................................... 24 1.5.5 Status of researchers ......................................................................................................... 24 1.5.6 Presentation of report ....................................................................................................... 25 1.5.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Two The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ..... 26 2 Background ................................................................................................................................. 26 2.1 Reservations................................................................................................................................ 27 2.2 The Optional Protocols ............................................................................................................ 28 2.3 Reporting .................................................................................................................................... 31 2.4 Government response to committee’s concluding recommendations .............................. 31 2.4.1 New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (NBZORA) – Entrenchment and provision of a remedy ................................................................................................................................. 32 2.4.2 Article 20 – advocacy of racial hatred ............................................................................ 33 2.4.3 Lack of enjoyment of Covenant rights by Māori ......................................................... 34 2.4.4 Role of NHRISs in the treaty body process .................................................................. 35 2.4.5 Involvement of civil society ............................................................................................. 35 2.5 Domestic application of the Covenant by the courts........................................................... 37 2.6 Use of General Comments ....................................................................................................... 39 2.7 Intervention in legal proceedings by the NZHRC ............................................................... 40 3 2.8 NZBORA vets ........................................................................................................................... 41 2.9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter Three International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) ................................................................................................ 44 3 Background ................................................................................................................................. 44 3.1 Progressive realisation ............................................................................................................... 45 3.2 Treaty body reporting ............................................................................................................... 46 3.3 First Periodic Report – Concluding Observations ............................................................... 47 3.3.1 Positive aspects .................................................................................................................. 47 3.3.2 Principal areas of concern ................................................................................................ 48 3.3.3 Suggestions and recommendations ................................................................................. 48 3.4 Second Periodic Report – Concluding Observations .......................................................... 49 3.4.1 Positive aspects .................................................................................................................. 49 3.4.2 Principal subjects of concern ........................................................................................... 49 3.4.3 Suggestions and recommendations ................................................................................. 49 3.5 Third Periodic Report – Concluding Observations ............................................................. 50 3.5.1 Positive aspects .................................................................................................................. 50 3.5.2 Principal subjects of concern and recommendations .................................................. 51 3.6 Policy, practice and legislative change .................................................................................... 52 3.7 The use of ESCR in judicial proceedings ............................................................................... 54 3.8 The role of civil society ............................................................................................................. 59 3.9 The role of the NHRI ............................................................................................................... 59 3.10 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter Four Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) ................................................................................................... 61 4 Background ................................................................................................................................. 61 4.1 Reporting .................................................................................................................................... 62 4.2 Implementation of CERD – Article 14 .................................................................................. 63 4.3 Special Procedures ..................................................................................................................... 64 4.4 The role of NHRIs and civil society ....................................................................................... 64 4.5 The use of CERD in judicial proceedings ............................................................................. 66 4.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 67 Chapter Five The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ..................................................................... 69 5 Background ................................................................................................................................. 69 5.1
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