The Commission recommends that strategies be established across all sectors including health, education, and justice to identify and address structural discrimination. These strategies should set specific timelines and targets and be monitored and reported on regularly. Human Rights Commission’s submission to the Universal Periodic Review CERD received information from the New Zealand Government and the Human Rights Commission as well as feedback from a range of NGOs and community organisations. It noted Aotearoa New Zealand’s efforts to promote non- discrimination, racial equality, cultural diversity, and indigenous rights. Action plan on human rights takes shape Every four years, countries that belong to the United Nations are asked to declare what they are doing to improve human rights. This process is called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In 2013, it was Aotearoa New Zealand’s second opportunity to participate in the UPR process and have its human rights record assessed. The United Nations Human Rights Council received submissions from the New Zealand Government, the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and from NGOs and civil society.4 The level of civil society participation in the review process was significantly greater than during New Zealand’s first UPR in 2009. The Commission’s submission, informed by public consultation, made 20 recommendations. These included recommendations calling for policy and legislation to be informed by a human rights approach; the systematic collection of data relating to groups vulnerable to discrimination, addressing inequalities in health, education and justice and the reduction of child poverty, violence, and inadequate housing. The Commission also called for the Government to fully protect and promote indigenous rights in law, policy and practice, and to provide greater recognition of the Treaty in Aotearoa New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. 12 In its report to the Universal Periodic Review, the New Zealand Government set out its key human rights priorities: 1. Strengthen the partnership between Government and Mäori by continuing to support Mäori to realise their potential and continuing the momentum on achieving fair, just and durable settlements of historical claims under the Treaty of Waitangi. 2. Improve the protection of children against abuse and neglect. 3. Reduce violence within families and its impact on women and children. 4. Continue the ongoing implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (including adopting the Optional Protocol and the New Zealand Disability Strategy). 5. Advance the Constitutional Review process. 6. Ensure any human rights impacts of the Canterbury earthquakes are accounted for in the ongoing decisions around the rebuild. The United Nations Human Rights Council reviewed the information it received, announcing its recommendations at a meeting in Geneva in January 2014. The Council praised Aotearoa New Zealand’s ongoing commitment to improving the realisation of rights for all people and said that there was much to learn from the New Zealand experience. It also made over 100 recommendations for Aotearoa New Zealand to act on. The recommendations related to race relations include putting clear measures in place to prevent racial discrimination and inequality of outcomes in health, education and criminal justice, as well as eliminating pay gaps across all groups and ethnicities. There were strong calls for Aotearoa New Zealand to do more to advance the human rights of Mäori and to implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Several countries also called for ongoing consultation over New Zealand’s future constitutional arrangements and the place of the