• d
eveloped and distributed a flyer on the human right to adequate
housing in New Zealand based on the United Nations seven standards
that must be met for housing to be adequate
• w
orked in partnership with New Zealand Red Cross to undertake
research on the experiences of people living in the residential
red zone
• begun gathering evidence relating to the prioritisation of vulnerable
claims by insurers and EQC
• p
rovided a submission on the Christchurch City Council Long Term Plan
and provided feedback on the Environment Canterbury governance
model, as well as having input into the Canterbury Earthquake
Recovery Authority (CERA) preliminary red zone recovery plan
As a result of these activities:
• C
hief Executives of CERA, the Ministry of Social Development,
Christchurch City Council and MBIE have reported against the
Canterbury Earthquake Report Recommendations
• The CERA Community in Mind psychosocial recovery strategy
incorporates feedback from the Commission
• T
he EQC Customer Interaction Report considered human rights issues
identified as part of the Commission report into the Canterbury
Earthquakes
The Commission contributed as a coalition partner to Caring Counts
Coalition, which advocates for equal pay for workers in the aged care
sector. Recommendations from the inquiry into the aged care workforce,
Caring Counts, have been included in the long-term health workforce
strategy draft actions. The ‘In Between Travel’ arrangement for care
workers has been agreed, is national and fully funded. Carers will receive
interim payments from 1 July 2015.
During 2014/15 the Commission facilitated the development of New
Zealand’s National Plan of Action 2015–2019 (NPA), which sets out the
actions the Government is taking as a result of the commitments it made
through its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the United
Nations Human Rights Council in 2014.
The NPA has been developed as an online tool that will progressively
make explicit what government is doing to address human rights in New
Zealand by tracking progress on implementing recommendations from
the UPR. It will also enable all New Zealanders to understand, examine
and monitor this progress. The extent to which New Zealand has made
progress against these commitments will be reviewed by the United
Nations Human Rights Council in 2019. Civil society (including affected
sector groups, business and iwi) and government were involved in the
development of the NPA.
18
Human Rights Commission