Submission of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission to the 18 th session of the Human Rights Council; New Zealand’s Second Universal Periodic Review. discretions it confers. 46. The concept of the least restrictive intervention is a central objective under the PPPR Act. It has been suggested that it only comes into play once jurisdiction has been established and to apply it otherwise would unduly limit the application of the Act. 14 That is, it will govern the mode of exercise of jurisdiction, once that is established, rather than limiting the circumstances in which jurisdiction arises.15 The rationale for this is that if it is relied on to assess preliminary jurisdiction then it would limit the Act to “all but the most compelling cases of incapacity.” Such an interpretation is arguably at odds with the requirement, as set out in the Committee’s General Comment on Article 12, that the exercise of legal capacity and more intensive forms of support should be based on the individual’s preferences not on what is perceived objectively as being in their best interests. 47. Given the continued lack of clarity as to whether the provisions of the PPPR are applied in a manner consistent with supported decision making principles, the Commission welcomes the government’s commitment, in the Disability Action Plan 2014 -2018, to prioritising work on ensuring disabled people can exercise their legal capacity. Access to justice (art.13) New Zealand Sign Language 48. Despite many recent government initiatives across the justice sector, concerns remain about inconsistent access to New Zealand Sign Language (“NZLS”) interpreters in some courts due, in part, to a lack of qualified NZLS interpreters. It is unclear whether the progressive introduction of Video Remote Interpreting (“VRI”) across government has done anything to mitigate this issue. 49. In September 2013, the Commission released A New Era in the Right to Sign16, a comprehensive report into New Zealand Sign Language. One of the Commission’s recommendations was to: That the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment: [Develop] reporting mechanisms for measuring uptake of video remote interpreting (VRI), in consultation with other government agencies, to enable government agencies to make comparisons between usage of VRI and face-to-face interpreter services17. 14 Hutt Valley District Health Board v MJP [2012] NZFLR 485 (FC), as per Moss J. Above n 44 at [16] 16 http://www.hrc.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/A-New-Era-in-the-Right-to-Sign-for-web.pdf 17 Ibid. 15 12