Incorporation of international obligations into domestic law 18. Despite New Zealand’s commitment to its international obligations, some significant gaps continue to exist in how New Zealand has incorporated these rights into domestic law. New Zealand’s policy of not ratifying a treaty until the necessary laws are already in place, together with a longstanding commitment to social welfare rights, has meant that its domestic law has generally provided an adequate framework for enforcing the international standards without further change being necessary. However, in practice this can mean that not all of the rights contained in the various international treaties to which New Zealand is a party are given explicit domestic legal expression or protection. For example: • • • the rights and freedoms protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA) are set out in Part 2 of the BORA and reflect some, but not all, of those incorporated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);xx the Canterbury earthquake recovery has highlighted the importance of the right to be free of arbitrary interference with home and property. The right to property links to the realisation of many economic, social and cultural rights as and to the guarantee of rangatiratanga under Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi. It can be traced back to the Magna Carta which became part of New Zealand’s law in 1840.xxi Property rights are protected to some extent by the common law and legislation,xxii but are not among the rights and freedoms in BORA; while aspects of social and economic rights are addressed in New Zealand through some legislation, at present economic social and cultural rights are not recognised as fundamental, justiciable rights.xxiii 19. The Commission recommends the full and effective incorporation of ratified international human rights standards into domestic legislation including through: (a) protection of property rights in the BORA; (b) explicit statutory recognitionxxiv of economic, social and cultural rights, including the availability of judicial and ADR remedies where appropriate.xxv Parliamentary Processes 20. Although New Zealand has a longstanding commitment to the development of international human rights standards, it is less consistent in fully incorporating those standards in the development of legislation and policy. Human rights considerations are generally not at the heart of public policy decision making. New Zealand has no overarching cross government strategy to ensure that human rights are known and understood by all duty bearers and rights holders, and that a human rights approach to legislative and policy development is routinely applied. Page 25 of 35