Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is encouraging organisations and individuals to share their views on human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand for the government’s upcoming report to the United Nations.

The report informs a process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will be facilitated by the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in April/May 2024.

“The UPRis an opportunity for the country to take stock of how well the government is protecting the human rights of people in Aotearoa,” says Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt.

“This includes how well local and central government are delivering on the right to a decent home, the rights to health care and health protection, and across the full spectrum of human rights and te Tiriti o Waitangi”

“The UN will review progress on key agreements, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities,” says Hunt.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) will elicit people’s views at public hui, open to everyone, in eight cities around the country in March, April and May.

MFAT will be visiting: Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson, Rotorua, Auckland, Kaitaia and Gisborne. More information about the hui, including registration, is available here.

Following the hui, MFAT will work with other government agencies to produce a draft national report for public feedback in mid-2023, ahead of final submission to the UN in February 2024.

The UN Human Rights Council reviews the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States once every four and a half years through the UPR.

In January 2019 Aotearoa underwent its third review before the Council. Two hundred and two recommendations were made on a wide range of human rights issues. The government supported 160 of those recommendations.

The Commission will also submit its own report and encourages individuals and organisations to make their own submissions if they wish. For more information on the UPR process, including how you can make a submission, please see our UPR Guide.

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