Our strategic impacts are: • more people in New Zealand know and practice their rights and fulfil their responsibility to respect the human dignity and rights of others • people and organisations with legal obligations to respect and protect human dignity and rights do so • better remedies for breaches of human dignity and rights • increased observance of procedural safeguards by decision-makers when exercising their legislative oversight and public-sector management responsibilities • Effective engagement of specific groups in decision-making processes affecting them and in the design of their communities • Development of a culture where violence and abuse are reported and not tolerated • Increased adoption of effective policies and practices that provide for equality of opportunity and non-discrimination. We measure our impact by monitoring progress against the following standards: • the New Zealand public has a greater awareness and appreciation of human rights of all the diverse groups of people that make up our society • central and local government agencies increasingly consider and implement human rights standards and obligations into policy and legislative decisions • increased positive outcomes for breaches of human rights standards through the provision of effective dispute-resolution services and legal representation. The Commission has made significant progress through delivery of its work programmes across all human rights focus areas – civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. We are making a difference to New Zealand’s most marginalised groups including Mäori, Pasifika, women, ethnic minorities, LGBTI people and disabled people. This is evidenced through increased adoption of policies and practices to achieve equality of opportunity and non-discrimination, more inclusive approaches and provision of effective mechanisms of redress through our enquiries, complaints and mediation services. Positive outcomes have also been achieved over the past year where the Commission has intervened in legal proceedings or where it has made submissions to select committees on human rights issues. The sections, Year in review and Enquiries and complaints, provide a summary of some of the Commission’s key achievements and contributions in 2017-18. Annual Report 2018 15