Background
1.
The New Zealand Human Rights Commission (“Commission”) is an independent
Crown Entity pursuant to the Crown Entities Act that derives its statutory mandate
from the Human Rights Act 1993 (“HRA”). The long title to the HRA states it is
intended to provide better protection of human rights in New Zealand in general
accordance with United Nations human rights Covenants and Conventions.
2.
The Commission welcomes the opportunity to make this initial submission for
consideration during the pre-session on New Zealand’s fifth periodic review under the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”).
3.
In February 2011 the Office of the Children’s Commissioner established a nongovernment sector group, the UNCROC Monitoring Group (UMG) to monitor the
implementation of the CRC. The Commission is a member of the UMG. The UMG
has provided a submission to the Committee, which the Commission has contributed
to.
4.
For the purposes of the pre-session, this submission has been designed to complement
the UMG’s submission and the submission of the Children’s Commissioner. The
Commission endorses both the UMG and Children’s Commissioners submissions.
The Commission also notes that a comprehensive NGO Alternative Report, prepared
by Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa, will also be submitted to the Committee
for consideration at the pre-session.
5.
The submission is divided into two sections:
6.
The first section of the submission highlights issues that the Commission
wishes to draw to the Committee’s attention.
The second section sets out a further analysis of implementation progress
across the CRC reporting areas. It does not cover all areas and is to be read
alongside the UMG and Children’s Commissioner’s reports.
The Commission will provide the Committee with a further report that will provide
updated information concerning each of the CRC reporting areas prior to Committee’s
examination of New Zealand during the Committee’s 73rd session.
Section 1:
Reform of child protection services – funding models and service delivery
7.
Since the CRC issued its most recent set of Concluding Observations on New Zealand
in February 2011, the child protection sector has been subject to ongoing reform. This
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