based violence as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Disability Strategy.81 It also recommended including gender-specific measures within the disability focus of the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence and to ensure specific issues for women and girls with disabilities are mainstreamed throughout the Strategy.82 58. The CRPD Committee also expressed concern at the ongoing violence, abuse and neglect of disabled people in institutions. The CRPD Committee thus recommended “urgent action to amend legislative and policy frameworks that facilitate violence, abuse and neglect in institutions, to remove persons with disabilities from institutional settings with adequate support for living in the community, to investigate and sanction institutions and perpetrators and to provide victim recovery support services and redress”. 59. As part of its announcements for Budget 2023, the Government committed $73.48 million to the family violence and sexual violence framework, with half going to disabled people, children and young people and tangata whenua. It also extended funding for safeguarding initiatives83 to protect at risk and disabled people from violence and abuse and improved accessibility to family violence and sexual violence services for disabled people. The Commission welcomed these measures but notes that they must be implemented and co-designed with disabled people and tangata whaikaha Māori. 60. The Committee may wish to make further inquiries with the Government as to: (a) Progress made in addressing violence against disabled people, especially women and girls, with a particular focus on Māori and Pasifika women and girls, within the Disability Strategy; and (b) Steps taken to address and mainstream gender-specific issues within the disability focus of the National Strategy and Action Plan to Eliminate Family Violence and the inclusion of disabled people and tangata whaikaha Māori in the implementation and design of new measures within the family violence and sexual violence framework. Sterilisation of disabled people 61. As set out in the IMM submission to the CRPD Committee84, concern also remains that there is no legislation in place to prohibit sterilisation (or any other non-therapeutic medical procedure) on disabled children and adults. Initiatives to address involuntary sterilisation and other nontherapeutic medical procedures on disabled people have stalled despite a project focusing on protecting bodily integrity being explicitly listed in Aotearoa New Zealand’s current Disability 81 The Aotearoa New Zealand Disability Strategy guides the work of government agencies on disability issues from 20162026, based on eight outcomes that include, for example education, health and wellbeing, and accessibility. Outcome 4 relates to rights protection and justice and includes an action to “explore options to reduce violence, abuse and neglect”. See Office of Disability Issues “Aotearoa New Zealand’s Disability Strategy: Outcome 4 – Rights protection and justice” available at https://www.odi.govt.nz/nz-disability-strategy/outcome-4-rights-protection-andjustice/#accordion-90-heading. 82 See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Concluding observations on the initial report of Aotearoa New Zealand: (September 2022) UN Doc. CRPD/C/NZL/CO/2-3. 83 Per Action 28: Implementing safeguarding responses for disabled and vulnerable adults. See p. 8 https://tepunaaonui.govt.nz/assets/Resources/Budget/2023/Budget-2023-Summary-ofInitiatives_FINAL_20230512_WEB.pdf. 84 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Concluding observations on the initial report of Aotearoa New Zealand: (September 2022) UN Doc. CRPD/C/NZL/CO/2-3 at 36. 17