The Government has committed to work with the Commission to develop New Zealand’s second NPA.13 It is intended that the NPA will be developed as a follow on from, and be directly informed by, New Zealand’s second UPR. As noted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2012, it should also take into account the concluding observations from treaty bodies.14 Adoption (Articles 2, 17, 18 & 26) The Adoption Act 1955 is one of the oldest statutes in New Zealand with ongoing application. It was enacted at a time when societal structures and mores were very different from today. The Act relies on a number of grounds of prohibited discrimination to regulate the adoption process. Over the years the courts have made attempts to construe the Act in such a way as to align it with contemporary civil life. Executive government and Crown Entities such as the Law Commission have also reviewed the Act. The theme that consistently emerges from these court decisions and reviews is that at least some of the discrimination contained in the Act is unjustified and a barrier to ensuring justice in individual cases. In 2013 Adoption Action15 applied to the Human Rights Review Tribunal for a declaration that the Adoption Act 1955 and the Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 are inconsistent with the antidiscrimination provisions in the BoRA and therefore contravene Part 1A of the HRA. The Commission has intervened in these proceedings. The hearing before the Tribunal is set to continue in early 2014. Immigration (Articles 2, 9(1) & 13) In 2012 the Government has introduced an Amendment to the Immigration Act designed to address the risk of a mass arrival of illegal immigrants. Although the Explanatory Note asserts that the Bill “contains a range of measures to enhance New Zealand’s ability to deter people smuggling”, the legislation appears to be less concerned with the imposition of sanctions against people smugglers or illegal immigration than imposing discriminatory conditions on refugee claimants who arrive as part of a group. It does this by introducing a detention regime that not only infringes the Refugee Convention and arguably amounts to arbitrary detention under Art.9 (1) but operates in a discriminatory manner as it applies only to groups arriving in New Zealand other than in the course of a scheduled international service. When assessed against the international norms and standards, the policy is inappropriate and unjust.16 In June 2013 the Bill was enacted into law. Right to Privacy (Article 17) Communications surveillance Globally, issues around mass surveillance, privacy, business and human rights, and media freedom have arisen in the wake of disclosures by Edward Snowden in 2013. In New Zealand, the focal point 13 New Zealand National Universal Periodic Review Report, 4 November 2013, at paragraph 17. http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/humanrights/New%20Zealand%20UPR%20national%20report%20%20submitted%20version%20(3).pdf 14 E/C.12/NZL/CO/3 at paragraph 33. 15 Adoption Action is an incorporated society whose members include persons who have had personal experience of adoption whether as relinquishing parents, adopted persons or actual or potential adoptive parents. 16 For more information see the Commission’s submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee: http://www.hrc.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Submission-on-Immigration-Bill_NZHRC.pdf Page 5 of 35