Priorities for 2012 • Finalise and implement the Auckland Plan, including a focus on supporting cultural diversity, reducing inequality and enabling Māori aspirations. • Consider the Human Rights Amendment Bill and address community concerns about the loss of the special character and visibility of the role of Race Relations Commissioner. 4. Discrimination and Harassment The number of approaches to the Human Rights Commission about racial discrimination, incitement and harassment has been relatively consistent in the past five years, with an average of 472 per year making up about a third of all approaches to the commission. Approaches about race-related matters in employment were the most common. Annual UMR Research surveys on perceived discrimination, undertaken since 2001, have consistently shown Asian people to be perceived as the most discriminated against. An average of around 75 per cent of survey respondents identified Asian people as suffering “a great deal” or “some” discrimination. Incidents of racially motivated crime have been relatively rare, although the cases that were reported included serious assaults. The highest number of media reports of such incidents was 19 in 2008, dropping to five in 2011. The Government is yet to implement a system for collecting data on racially motivated crime, as recommended by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UN Human Rights Council. Until it does so, it is difficult to be precise about the extent of such crime. Regional web-based mechanisms to report and resolve cases of racial harassment were established through local initiatives in Christchurch and Nelson/Tasman. The Christchurch system, primarily aimed at international students, was discontinued in 2011, but there are hopes of a similar system being established for international students on a national basis in the future. The number of approaches received under section 61 of the Human Rights Act (inciting racial disharmony) fluctuated greatly from year to year. This was due to a relatively large number of approaches on a single issue in most years. For example 752 approaches related to comments made by MP Hone Harawira in 2009 and 83 approaches related to comments 13