Increased observance of procedural safeguards by decision makers when exercising their legislative, oversight and public sector management responsibilities Children’s Action Plan: The Commission has made recommendations to the Information Sharing Agreement for Improving Public Services for Vulnerable Children (AISA) which provides clarity and certainty about what information about vulnerable children and their families Government agencies can share, for what reasons and with whom. The Vulnerable Children’s AISA has now passed into law, with a number of recommendations from the Commission reflected in the final order. The Commission facilitated several high-level meetings on protection for human trafficking victims with senior representatives from Ministry of Justice, MBIE, the Police, Help Auckland, Human Rights Foundation and the Pohutukawa Clinic. Action points included working with the inter-agency group on human trafficking and exploring the opportunity for education and awareness of trafficking in the provider sector. It also included ACC adapting its model of care for victims of sexual violence to cover human trafficking victims. The Commission continued to have significant impact when participating in legal proceedings, appearing as an “intervener” in several major human rights-related legal cases over the past year. In February 2016 the Commission participated in Spencer v Attorney-General, a case arising from the long-running “parents as caregivers” litigation begun by family members of adult disabled children. The High Court subsequently awarded Margaret Spencer more than $200,000 in damages to compensate her for losses arising from the Ministry of Health’s discriminatory practice of refusing to pay family members for providing care to disabled adults. Of particular significance, the Court also accepted the Commission’s submission that a training order should be made under the Human Rights Act and directed that the Ministry of Health should educate its officers on the importance of the human rights of disabled persons and their caregivers. In March 2016 the Human Rights Review Tribunal released its decision in the case of Adoption Action v Attorney General. The Tribunal issued a declaration of inconsistency holding that a number of provisions of the Adoption Act 1955 were inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. These included provisions relating to the position of sole male applicants, civil union partners and same sex de-facto couples, consent of disabled parents and age limits. The Tribunal specifically noted the significant role the Commission, through its counsel, played at the hearing and the invaluable assistance provided. In addition, the Commission also successfully applied to intervene in a number of cases including proceedings related to the teaching of religious instruction in schools and contract pay rates for midwifery providers. Annual Report 2016 27