Submission of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission on New Zealand’s 6th Periodic Review under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Reporting Stage: List of Issues Prior to Reporting Introduction 1. The New Zealand Human Rights Commission (‘the Commission’) welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (‘the Committee’). The Commission is accredited as an A-status National Human Rights Institution under the Paris Principles. 2. The submission is provided prior to the Committee’s issuance of a List of Issues Prior to Reporting (‘LOIPR’) to the New Zealand government under the Committee’s 6th periodic review of New Zealand under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘the Convention’). The Commission notes that the 6th periodic review of New Zealand under the Convention will be undertaken, for the first time, under the Committee’s Simplified Reporting Procedure. 3. Our submission is intended to provide a broad overview of developments since the Committee’s concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of New Zealand in October 2016.1 The submission sets out recommendations for the Committee to consider when formulating its LOIPR for the New Zealand government. 4. The Commission is a member of the Children’s Convention Monitoring Group (‘CMG’), a civil society group that monitors the implementation of the Convention in New Zealand.2 The CMG’s activities are co-ordinated by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. Under their respective organisational mandates, CMG member organisations will provide individual submissions. The submissions from individual CMG members may be considered as being mutually endorsed. Observations on progress made since the 5th periodic review Legislation and policy reform and addressing social disparities 1 2 5. There has been considerable legislative and policy reform in New Zealand of direct relevance to children’s rights since the Committee’s previous concluding observations in 2016. 6. Some reforms have significantly advanced New Zealand’s structural implementation of the Convention. For example, the Convention is now referred to in both the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 and the Children’s Act 2014, two of New Zealand’s primary statutes concerning the rights, interests and welfare of children. Furthermore, in 2018 the New Zealand Parliament enacted the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018, which imposes an enduring commitment upon the New Zealand government to reduce rates of income poverty and material deprivation over periodic, defined timeframes. 7. However, while there has been progress integrating the Convention’s principles into New Zealand’s legislative framework, progress in improving socio-economic disparities among New Zealand children has proven more difficult. Income poverty rates remain high. Rates of severe housing CRC/C/NZL/CO/5, 21 October 2016 https://www.occ.org.nz/childrens-rights-and-advice/uncroc/uncroc-role/