1. INTRODUCTION 1. The New Zealand Human Rights Commission (“Commission”) is New Zealand’s National Human Rights Institution (“NHRI”). It is accredited as an “A” status NHRI. It is an independent Crown Entity pursuant to the Crown Entities Act 2004 and derives its statutory mandate from the Human Rights Act 1993 (“HRA”). The long title to the HRA states it is intended to provide better protection of human rights in New Zealand in general accordance with United Nations human rights Covenants and Conventions. 2. The Commission welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“Committee”) to inform its development of a list of issues prior to reporting (“LOIPR”) on New Zealand’s upcoming 4th periodic report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (“ICESCR”). 3. This submission sets out what the Commission views as key challenges that have emerged since New Zealand’s last review under ICESCR. The submission is divided into the following 4 sections: 4.  background and general matters of implementation;  inequalities;  violence and abuse; and  additional matters. A full list of proposed questions to be included in the Committee’s LOIPR for New Zealand is attached as Appendix 1. 2