Submission of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission to the 18 th session of the Human Rights Council; New Zealand’s Second Universal Periodic Review. Article 33 of the Disability Convention requires an independent mechanism to be established to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the Convention. The partnership approach underpinning the Disability Convention is reflected in the structure of New Zealand’s IMM. It comprises the Human Rights Commission (the Commission), the Ombudsman and the New Zealand Convention Coalition Monitoring Group (the Convention Coalition). The Commission and the Ombudsman are established by statute and have roles and responsibilities in relation to discrimination, human rights, access to information and public accountability. The Convention Coalition comprises eight DPOs and provides an important voice for disabled people. The DPOs who make up the coalition are: 1 Blind Citizens New Zealand 2 Balance New Zealand 3 Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand 4 Deafblind (NZ) Incorporated 5 Disabled Persons Assembly (New Zealand) Inc 6 Ngā Hau e Whā 7 Ngāti Kāpo o Aotearoa Inc 8 People First New Zealand Inc. This arrangement reflects Article 4(3) of the Disability Convention. This provides that all decisionmaking processes relating to disabled people shall actively involve them through their representative organisations. The IMM’s first report Making Disability Rights Real covered the five years to 30 June 2012, with emphasis on the final year. It is available in accessible formats and can be downloaded from: www.hrc.co.nz/makingdisabilityrightsreal This second report covers the period from 1 July 2012 to 31 December 2013. The approach In its first report published in December 2012, the IMM focused on developing a baseline picture of the state of disabled people’s rights in New Zealand. The report contained seven key recommendations, pulling together the main priorities from a full list of 44 recommendations. It recommended that the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues should ensure that action on those recommendations was completed by the end of 2014. The second report assesses what progress has been made since June 2012. This summary report highlights and discusses some key issues identified by the IMM during the reporting period, including its priority recommendations. 28