in March 2022.71 Over half of the women in prison are remanded in custody awaiting the outcome of their charges.72 Recommendations: (a) Provide information on measures taken to reduce discrimination against wāhine Māori in the criminal justice system. (b) Provide information on steps taken to reduce the use of segregation, strip searches, pepper spray and other uses of force or inhumane or degrading treatment of women in prison. (c) Provide information on what the Government is doing across social and justice sectors to stop intergenerational cycles of trauma, social insecurity, reoffending, and reimprisonment, especially for wāhine Māori. (d) Provide information on steps taken to reduce women in remand, including access to rehabilitation programmes. Inclusion of discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics 29. The government has sought feedback on proposals to amend s 21 of the Human Rights Act 1993 to include gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics in principle in its response to the RCOI report.73 There is no timeframe for the next stage of legislative reform. Recommendation: (a) What steps has the Government taken and what are the timeframes for amending section 21(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1993, to include specific prohibitions of discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics? 71 72 73 Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections “Prison facts and statistics” (March 2022) https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics/prison_stats_march_2022. Dr Sharon Shalev “First, Do No Harm” above n 70. New Zealand Government “Response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain report” https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/202012/Government%20Response%20to%20RCOI.pdf at [9]. The Government spoke of amending the law to include gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination as part of its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, and New Zealand received two recommendations to amend the Human Rights Act 1993 to include discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. See Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review “Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: New Zealand” UN Doc A/HRC/41/4 (1 April 2019) at [122.51] and [122.52]; United Nations Human Rights Council “Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of New Zealand“ UN Doc A/HRC/41/4/Add.1 (17 June 2019) at [17]. 13