all other covenants and declarations including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (UNCEDAW) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). Read together, these instruments enable an understanding of multiple and intersecting forms of disadvantage that must be considered when building systems of protection. Disabled people’s leadership The UNCRPD is a transformative convention because it explicitly states that disabled people must be involved in its implementation and monitoring. The rights of autonomy, selfdetermined solutions and active participation of disabled people are described in the preamble to the UNCRPD: “(n) Recognising the importance for persons with disabilities of their individual autonomy and independence, including the freedom to make their own choices”, and in Article 3 (a). UNCRPD Article 4.3 details the necessity for state parties to “closely consult with and actively involve” tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled people in the development of legislation and policy that concerns them. For tāngata whaikaha Māori, tino rangatiratanga is also implicit in Articles 3, 4 and 18* of UNDRIP. Article 4 says: “Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs…” Indigenous and gender lenses are critical Article 16 of the UNCRPD and Article 22 of UNDRIP both require the gender-based nature of violence to be considered alongside disability. As for all women, indigenous women and disabled women are at greater risk of violence than their indigenous or disabled male counterparts. When disability and indigeneity intersect with one another the respective histories of colonisation, poverty and exclusion compound and multiply inequalities.30 Addressing discrimination Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination and, when it impedes the enjoyment of other fundamental freedoms, violence can constitute a “breach of other articles whether or not they specifically mention violence”.31 This same analysis can be applied to disability. Failure to recognise violence directed at people because of their disability, or to address ableist drivers of violence, could constitute discrimination. Ableism is a value system that considers certain typical characteristics of body and mind as essential for living a life of value.32 As these two circumstances of discrimination create a disproportionate burden of harm, about which nothing has been done, these breaches of human rights require an immediate, not a progressive, response.† * Article 3: Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely deter-mine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Article 4: Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions. Article 18: Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions. † 20 When a country ratifies an international human rights instrument, it doesn’t have to do everything in it at once. However, the government must have a plan to achieve full realisation of the instrument and be seen to be making progressive improvements. This is called progressive realisation. Progressive realisation means a country must be seen to be developing legislation, policy and practice to fully realise a particular right. CRPD/c/GC/6 General Comment No 6 (2018) on equality and non-discrimination states (page 3, para 12 states ‘Promoting equality and tackling discrimination are cross-cutting obligations of immediate realisation. They are not subject to progressive realisation.’ https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/ treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD/C/GC/6&Lang=en Human Rights Commission