New Zealand Human Rights Commission Submission to the CAT in relation to NZ’s 6th periodic review confirmed a number of issues that the Commission and the NPM have also identified. In summary, the recommendations relate to: a) resourcing and effectiveness of the NPM monitoring bodies and the OPCAT system in New Zealand; b) alignment of domestic legislation with human rights standards; c) a need to review the institutional framework, including regime conditions, access to parole and pre-trial detention; d) fundamental safeguards, such as access to information and complaint mechanisms; e) Māori over-representation in the criminal justice system and availability of programmes aimed at reducing Māori recidivism; f) juvenile justice, including the currently low legal age of criminal responsibility and access to organised activities; g) health and mental health care in detention, particularly the high rates of often chronic and acute mental disorders within the prison population, and access to timely and adequate health and mental health care services; and h) conditions of detention, including adequacy of facilities, access to exercise and outdoor activities, nutrition, the right to privacy and the use of segregation and restraint. 7. The Commission recommends that the Committee urge the Government to commit to implementing the SPT recommendations over the next reporting period (subject to one clarification set out at section 2 of the NPM submission). 8. In addition the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (“WGAD”) conducted a country visit to New Zealand from 24 March to 7 April 2014. The WGAD acknowledged that, overall, legislation and policy concerning deprivation of liberty in New Zealand is well-developed and generally consistent with international human rights law and standards. However, they drew special attention to the overrepresentation of Māori in the prison population, the detention of refugees and asylum-seekers, and loopholes in law and practices regarding judicial proceedings involving persons with intellectual disabilities. 9. This submission outlines the Commission’s views on New Zealand’s compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment 5