Human Rights Council: 18th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group, Geneva, 27 January to 7 February 2014
Statement by UK Mission Geneva on the Universal Periodic Review of New Zealand, 27 January 2014
Thank you Mr President,
The UK welcomes the New Zealand delegation to Geneva. We commend New Zealand’s commitment to human rights. New Zealand deserves its international reputation as an equal and safe society.
We thank the delegation for their answers to the UK’s advance questions.
Internationally, New Zealand continues proactively to engage with human rights initiatives and takes its humanitarian obligations seriously.
We commend New Zealand for recognising the problem of domestic violence and note the measures in place to address the issue.
The Government has also acknowledged that racial discrimination remains in New Zealand and has indicated its desire to tackle this unacceptable issue.
Furthermore, New Zealand has made efforts to address the continuing social and economic disparities experienced by indigenous groups.
In follow-up to our recommendations of the previous cycle, we have two recommendations:
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First, that New Zealand improve the monitoring and evaluation of domestic violence prevention programmes and agencies.
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Second, that New Zealand take further steps to understand fully the causes of inequality faced by indigenous people and to minimize their effects.
Thank you Mr President.