Human Rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi: COVID-19 and Alert Level 4 in Aotearoa New Zealand Foreword - Kōrero Whakataki He kura tangihia, he maimai aroha. Ko te tangihanga tëtahi mätäpuna o te ao Mäori, e toitü ana ki tënei rä. He kaupapa nui te poroporoaki ki te hunga mate. I tënei wä mate korona, ka whai pänga mai ngä whakaritenga rähui ki runga i te whänau pani. Ka taumaha rawa atu. I tënei wä pouri, ka tukuna mätou o mätou aroha ki ngä whänau e noho mokemoke ana. Kia pümau te matihere o te wähi ngaro ki a tätou. Haere, haere, haere atu rä. Our ngäkau aroha goes out to all of those who are grieving the loss of loved ones in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas. So far, the country has avoided wholesale catastrophic loss of life, but it is not unscathed. The weight of the lives lost to COVID-19 is immeasurable. The grief of all whänau who have lost loved ones in the lockdown is intensified by the inability to provide them with close support and care. As we adjust to COVID-19 Alert Level 3, the Human Rights Commission provides some ‘snapshots’ of how the Level 4 lockdown impacted upon human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We can learn from the Level 4 experience as we take steps in Level 3 towards recovery. Aotearoa New Zealand is living through a health, economic and human rights emergency. The human rights issues are numerous, complex and profound. They engage Te Tiriti o Waitangi and our national and international human rights commitments. In due course, the Commission will investigate these complexities in detail. For now, our goal is modest: to provide some human rights ‘snapshots’ from Level 4 which can help to navigate what lies ahead. We are not suggesting the issues covered are the most pressing and important. Prepared as Level 4 drew to a close, these ‘snapshots’ are short and illustrative. The government must be strongly commended for protecting the health and lives of so many tangata whenua and New Zealanders. Overall, the country’s systems of health protection and health care have 2 performed very well, especially when compared to many other high-income countries. Nonetheless, the government’s approach to COVID-19 has some significant shortcomings, some of which will emerge in the ‘snapshots’ and others we signal in the Conclusion. Human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are not only about rights, they are also about responsibilities. They place responsibilities on government and others holding public power, and they also place responsibilities on individuals to their communities. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it, everyone has duties to the community in which the free and full development of their personality is possible. This human rights responsibility of individuals to their communities – staying in our bubbles, social distancing, getting tested, protecting iwi, hapü and whänau, looking out for each other – was one of the strongest features of Level 4. Human rights and responsibilities, and respect for Te Tiriti o Waitangi, should be hallmarks of the country’s recovery from the pandemic. As we look forward to recovery, our children’s future must be centre stage. The impact on tamariki of COVID-19 – the virus and the measures to control it – should not be understated. Like many adults, children are experiencing increased anxiety, loneliness, feelings of lack of control, and worries about how their families will make it through. The immediate stress and long-term impacts are not evenly shared: they disproportionately fall on those