A/HRC/26/3
Government’s intention to tackle remaining racial discrimination in the country. It made
recommendations.
90.
Angola welcomed the ratification of OP-CRC-SC and the support for the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It commended New Zealand for
its commitment to combating racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, and its
constructive role in the preparation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
Angola made a recommendation.
91.
Argentina highlighted the priority given to strengthening Government-Māori
relations, the improvement in the protection of children against mistreatment and neglect
and the reduction of domestic violence and encouraged New Zealand to continue action in
those areas. Argentina welcomed measures to improve the rights of LGBT people. It made
recommendations.
92.
New Zealand provided further information on the Treaty of Waitangi settlements
process and indigenous rights. Settlements might include land, money and an apology from
the Government. In most cases, legislation providing for the settlements was approved by
all parties in Parliament. The Government sought to negotiate settlements for historical
Treaty grievances that were timely, fair and durable and aimed to reach agreements with all
willing and able claimant groups in the forthcoming years. The Government had established
a Post Settlement Commitments Unit in recognition of the ongoing relationship matters that
arose from Treaty settlements.
93.
In response to advance questions and comments regarding engagement with Māori
concerning the Marine and Costal Area, New Zealand confirmed the Government had
received 34 applications since the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act had been
passed in 2011. The Government would monitor the number and provenance of
applications and consider establishing a programme to promote a direct engagement
mechanism among Māori closer to the 2017 application deadline.
94.
New Zealand had established a Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues in 2009
to provide increased coordination across agencies and advance implementation of the
New Zealand Disability Strategy and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD). Those priorities had been outlined in the Disability Action Plan. The
Committee would develop a mechanism to implement the obligation under article 4,
paragraph 3 of CRPD to ensure that the representative organizations of persons with
disabilities were involved in development of legislation and policy relevant to them and to
recognize the importance of having leadership on disability issues come from persons with
disabilities themselves.
95.
New Zealand confirmed that accession to the Optional Protocol to CRPD was a key
consideration. The Government’s Funded Family Care scheme, introduced in 2013,
invested $NZ 23 a year million in supporting family carers of persons with disabilities.
96.
The Māori Disability Action Plan, launched in 2012, provided strategic direction
until 2017 to meet the support needs and priorities of Māori persons with disabilities and
their whānau (families) through Disability Support Services.
97.
Responding to an advance question from Germany, New Zealand noted that many of
the Better Public Services programmes focused on reducing inequalities between Māori and
Pacific people and other New Zealanders. The programmes set goals for the public sector to
track and achieve in order to deliver faster, smarter and more effective public services. For
instance, new health services in urban centres focused on Pacific children, providing rapid
access nurse-led community services to reduce rheumatic fever.
98.
New Zealand children aged between 5 and 19 years had the right to free education.
The Government was addressing the particular challenges that some children faced in
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