APPENDIX 1 15 June 2012 Kate Fox Secretary of the Human Rights Committee Human Rights Council and Treaty Bodies Division Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Email: kfox@ohchr.org Dear Kate ICCPR LIST OF ISSUES The following list of issues provided by the Human Rights Commission (the Commission) identifies the key challenges for New Zealand’s continued implementation of the Convention. The status of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBoRA) (Article 2) In the Concluding Observations on New Zealand’s Fifth Periodic Report in 2010, the Human Rights Committee reiterated its concern that the NZBoRA did not reflect all rights in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It also expressed concern that the NZBoRA did not take precedence over ordinary law and that laws adversely affecting the protection of human rights had been enacted, notwithstanding that they had been acknowledged by the Attorney-General as being inconsistent with the NZBoRA. The Committee recommended that New Zealand should enact legislation that gave full effect to all the rights in the ICCPR and strengthen current mechanisms to ensure compatibility of domestic law with the Covenant. The Government is currently undertaking a review of Constitutional arrangements in which the issue of entrenchment of the NZBoRA will be explored, together with the implications of including the full range of Covenant rights in domestic legislation. Irrespective of the outcome of the review the protection of human rights in New Zealand and compliance with the Covenant could be improved in the interim by: ➢ Amending section 7 of the NZBoRA. Section 7 is designed to ensure that Parliament is made aware of a possible breach so it can either rectify it or enact the legislation recognising there is a breach. At present the Attorney-General only reports to Parliament if the discrimination cannot be justified as a reasonable limit on the particular right or freedom under consideration. This process would be strengthened if the Attorney-General was required to present a report that legislation is prima facie discriminatory allowing a more informed debate about whether a breach can, in fact, be justified. ➢ Creating a Human Rights Select Committee. Human rights are currently dealt with by the Justice and Electoral Committee. The functions of select committees include considering and reporting to the House on bills, petitions, financial reviews, estimates, supplementary estimates, international treaty examinations and any other matters. Given the wide scope of human rights, it is clear that human rights considerations are not confined to the Justice and Electoral Committee. The establishment of a Human Rights Select Committee will Page 9 of 35