Discussion Human rights and Te Tiriti framework In Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) provides a constitutional foundation upon which the Crown’s human rights obligations rest. Together, te Tiriti and human rights are essential in building an inclusive and legitimate response to national crises and ensuring the health and wellbeing of disabled people and their whānau. Te Tiriti establishes a continual and ongoing relationship between Tangata Whenua and the Crown. It affirms the status of whānau, hapū and iwi as tangata whenua and recognises their pre-existing rangatiratanga. It envisages a sharing of power and authority and a partnership of equals. Te Tiriti requires the government to act in partnership with tāngata whenua (article 1), protect tino rangatiratanga (article 2), advance equity for Māori (article 3) and enable Māori customary practices and beliefs (oral article 4). Experience shows that when Crown authority (kāwanatanga) and iwi, hapū and whānau tino rangatiratanga authority co-exist and work in partnership, effective responses can be rolled out that protect all of us, including our most at risk communities. A Tiriti-based approach is required when developing policy that impacts disabled people – an approach that prioritises equity and ensures tāngata whaikaha Māori, as part of whānau, hapū and iwi, are resourced and supported to participate in decision-making and to develop and implement their own solutions. In addition to its Te Tiriti commitments, the New Zealand government is bound in international law to protect human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and associated Optional Protocols (ICCPR) – collectively known as the International Bill of Human Rights – provide the framework for the other international human rights treaties that protect and affirm ensure the rights of particular population groups. These United Nations treaties include the following, all of which have been ratified by the New Zealand Government: • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) • Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) • Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) • Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Domestically, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993 give effect to many of these rights. The New Zealand Government also supports the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). The UNDRIP is the foremost international statement on the human rights of indigenous peoples, affirming their rights to self-determination, participation in decision-making, equality and 13