Mötika Tangata më Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Mate Korona më te Noho Rähui i Aotearoa Taumata 4 claims remotely. A human rights approach would see all Tribunal staff, including decision makers, working from home. They should be encouraged to progress all existing claims and conduct hearings by alternative means. Contact tracing, surveillance and data use - Whakapāpā mate rere, tūtei mē te whakamahi raraunga Contact tracing involves the gathering of data from individuals who have come into contact with people who have the coronavirus. It is a key public health measure for containing and eliminating COVID-19. The government has confirmed that digital contact tracing technology will be used, on a voluntary basis, to assist with contact tracing. A recent independent audit of COVID-19 contact tracing (the Verrall report), notes that the Ministry of Health and local developers are working on a smartphone app for this purpose and recommends that its development is rapidly completed. By enhancing the speed and scope of contact tracing, digital technology has the potential to positively impact on the public health measures taken by the government towards eliminating COVID-19. There is a concern that this technology has the potential to be used repressively for purposes other than public health, such as general intelligencegathering and surveillance. The use of digital contact tracing involves the balancing of the right to privacy with the right to health, which includes prevention, treatment and control of epidemic disease. A human rights approach will help the government to appropriately balance its privacy and public health obligations when considering digital contact tracing. This approach requires the government to ensure that any impacts on people’s privacy are strictly necessary, lawful and proportionate. The use of digital tools for tracing COVID-19 should be voluntary. High levels of public trust and uptake are essential if they are to be effective. The Privacy Commissioner has noted that the way information is collected and distributed is essential to balancing health and privacy. Information should only be provided to public health workers, be of a minimal nature and be accessible only while COVID-19 remains a threat.1 Decisions on contact tracing, surveillance and data use must be undertaken in partnership with iwi and Mäori, uphold rangatiratanga and address Mäori equity issues. Iwi and Mäori organisations should have access to data and information to enable their effective participation in decision-making, inform their self-determined responses, and monitor equity of outcomes. Deprivations of liberty - Aukati te noho herekore Under Alert Level 4, people held in prisons, police cells, secure mental health and dementia units, youth justice facilities and care and protection residences were effectively locked down from the outside world. Research shows that such people are vulnerable to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. This risk is heightened when they are cut off from full interactions with independent monitoring agencies, statutory visitors and their whänau. During a respiratory pandemic, people who are deprived of their liberty have a greater risk of infection due to living in close proximity to one another and their limited ability to take their own precautionary measures. They are also more likely to have compromised health and therefore be more vulnerable to coronavirus. The Human Rights Commission is the Central National Preventive Mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture. Reported TVNZ, 9 April 2020, available here and at the Office of Privacy Commissioner website here 1 11