News Item

December 2017

2017 Shadow Report Award winners assess how well NZ honours its Human Rights obligations to CRPD, ICESCR, UPR

The Law Foundation has two winners for this year’s Shadow Report Award – Ng? Hau e Wh? & Associates and The Human Rights Foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. Both will receive $10,000 towards the preparation and presentation of their shadow reports.

Ng? Hau e Wh? & Associates will prepare a shadow report to the UN committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). They will provide an assessment, critique and analysis of the human rights of people who experience psychosocial disability (mental health conditions) while subject to the Mental Health Act 1992 and the associated regulations, policies and practices in New Zealand.

Their report will primarily focus on:

  • Article 12 – the right to equal recognition before the law;
  • Article 14 – the right to liberty and security of person; and
  • Article 15 – the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability.

The Human Rights Foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand will conduct research and liaise with community organisations to produce a parallel report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is an important treaty for New Zealand as it encompasses current issues related inequality, housing, child poverty, the social security system and the role of sanctions on the lives of beneficiaries, the impact of economic and social inequality on human rights and the status and wellbeing of M?ori.

They will also coordinate stake holders and the preparation of a joint stakeholders report to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) – the UPR is essentially a stock-take of the country’s compliance with its human rights obligations, especially those contained in the international human rights instruments New Zealand has ratified.

The Human Rights Foundation will also prepare and lodge a mid-term report commenting on the extent to which the NZ government has implemented the recommendations made to it as part of the UPR process in 2013.

The Law Foundation will contribute $10,000 to each Shadow Report Award Recipient this year