Scope of International Obligations 13. New Zealand has a good record of ratifying human rights treaties, after checking for any inconsistencies in New Zealand law. However, despite repeated recommendations from treaty bodiesxiv and through the UPR, New Zealand has failed to give effect to a number of individual complaints mechanisms under the Conventions and Covenants to which it is a State Party: • New Zealand has yet to opt into the Article 14 individual complaints process under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).xv As at May 2013, the government was still reviewing this position; • whilst New Zealand engaged constructively in the negotiation of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), it has not agreed to ratification although it has indicated it may consider reviewing this position once the costs of the process are understood (along with the Optional Protocol to the CRPD) in due course;xvi and • New Zealand has not taken any steps to ratify the Optional Protocol to UNCROC.xvii 14. New Zealand has still not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED) or the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW). 15. The Commission recommends that the Government: (a) commit to working with the relevant treaty bodies to explore ways in which New Zealand’s alternative human rights disputes resolution (ADR) mechanisms could be used to reduce the potential costs of acceding to individual complaints procedures relating to ratified conventions and covenants; and (b) ratify both the CED and CMW. Constitutional and Legal Framework 16. The Treaty of Waitangi (1840) is New Zealand’s founding document and has major significance for human rights and harmonious race relations in New Zealand. The four articles of the Treaty reflect fundamental human rights principles.xviii 17. A Constitutional Review is underway, initiated by the Government in 2011. The place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements is being considered through the Constitutional Review.xix The Commission endorses greater recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. Page 24 of 35