Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Commend New Zealand on Efforts to Welcome Refugees, Ask Questions on Historic Abuse of Persons with Disabilities in State Care and Challenges in Education for the Māori
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today concluded its consideration of the combined twenty-third and twenty-fourth periodic reports of New Zealand, with Committee Experts commending the State on efforts made to welcome refugees arriving to the country, while asking questions
on historic abuses committed against children and adults with disabilities in State care, and challenges in ensuring access to education for the Māori population.
Gun Kut, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said the Committee had information that refugees arriving to New Zealand were granted a visa on arrival, resettled at a reception centre, and then participated in a reception programme, including integrated health and education services, which were commendable efforts.
Faith Dikeledi Pansy Tlakula, Committee Expert and Follow-Up Rapporteur, said that the Committee had previously called on the State party to set up an independent Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children and adults with disabilities in State care from 1950 to 1990 with the authority to determine redress for victims, but the State party had not implemented all its recommendations in this regard. Māori made up 81 per cent of child victims of abuse in care as of 2017. What was the current rate and what was the State doing to reduce this rate? The Royal Commission had not been able to provide compensation for abuse or neglect. What agencies could provide such redress?
Stamatia Stavrinaki, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the Committee was concerned about ongoing challenges in supporting Māori education, including insufficient funding for teacher training. Could the curriculum reforms from 2023 be explained? How did these impact Māori learners? Another Committee Expert said the Committee had received information that the Government had put an end to the obligatory teaching of Māori language and culture. What had been the effects of this? What was being done to ensure the Māori’s right to their culture?
The delegation said a Royal Commission into historic abuse in State and faith-based care was set up in 2019. It had made its final recommendations in 2024, making 233 recommendations in total, of which 207 had been addressed by the Crown. The Government was working to implement the remaining recommendations. It had acknowledged that torture had occurred at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital. Payments of 20,000 dollars were made to the survivors of the hospital, and a 32-million-dollar investment had been made in increasing the capacity of the redress and claims system. A national day of reflection was held in 2025 on the anniversary of the Government’s public apology for the abuses, made on 12 November 2024.
The delegation said the enrolment of Māori in the schooling system had been increasing and there had been an increase in students participating in Māori language education. As of July 2024, 30 per cent of the total students were involved in Māori language education. The Government continued to invest in training for teachers to develop Māori language capacity and develop skills in other areas. There had been no policy changes for the funding of Māori education, which was bulk funded. In 2023, only 33 per cent of Māori students regularly attended school, and now two years later this figure had reached 44 per cent. There was still a long way to go, but there had been significant improvement in this regard.
Introducing the report, Paul Goldsmith, Minister of Justice of New Zealand and head of the delegation, said New Zealand was a diverse and egalitarian Pacific nation that was proudly multicultural, with more than 200 ethnic groups represented. The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840, established a relationship between Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and the Crown. New Zealand had a well-established process to settle grievances caused by the Crown’s historic acts and omissions that breached the Treaty of Waitangi in the past. Through settlements, the Crown sought to address the wrongs of the past by enabling a focus on the future and delivering better outcomes for Māori and their communities.
In concluding remarks. Ms. Stavrinaki said New Zealand had spoken of special measures to address the structural inequalities based on Māori peoples, refugees, and Pacific and migrant peoples, but these must not be conflated with ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples. Upholding these rights required Constitutional action and only through such steps could the State party secure genuine and lasting progress, which celebrated the nation’s diversity.
Mr. Goldsmith, in concluding remarks, thanked the delegation for the constructive dialogue over the past two days. New Zealand was proud of the progress made since the last review, but acknowledged there was more work which needed to be done. Mr. Goldsmith thanked all those who had made the dialogue possible.
The delegation of New Zealand consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Justice; New Zealand Police; Ministry of Health; Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development); Ministry of Education; and the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of New Zealand after the conclusion of its one hundred and sixteenth session on 5 December. The programme of work and other documents related to the session can be found here. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public on Wednesday, 26 May at 3 p.m. to consider the combined twentieth to twenty-second periodic reports of Tunisia (CERD/C/TUN/20-22).
Report
The Committee has before it the combined twenty-third and twenty-fourth periodic reports of New Zealand (CERD/C/NZL/23-24).
Presentation of Report
PAUL GOLDSMITH, Minister of Justice of New Zealand and head of the delegation, said New Zealand was a diverse and egalitarian Pacific nation that was proudly multicultural, with more than 200 ethnic groups represented. In 2023, 67.8 per cent of the population identified as European, 17.8 per cent as Māori, and 8.9 per cent as Pacific peoples. Ethnic communities were the fastest growing populations in New Zealand, more than tripling in size since 1996.
There were two main pieces of legislation that promoted and protected human rights in New Zealand: the human rights act 1993 and the New Zealand bill of rights act 1990. The human rights act was the State’s main anti-discrimination law. It made it unlawful to discriminate on a range of grounds, applying to State action and to everyone in specified areas like housing or education. The bill of rights act included a wide range of civil and political rights and affirmed in domestic law the State’s commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. All proposed laws were checked for consistency with the bill of rights act before being introduced to Parliament, and courts could declare laws to be inconsistent with the bill of rights as a form of redress. To strengthen accountability, in 2022 Parliament passed legislation requiring the Government and Parliament to formally respond to declarations of inconsistency.
New Zealand’s constitutional system had dual foundations in the Westminster common law tradition the State inherited from the United Kingdom and in the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840. The Treaty established a relationship between Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and the Crown.
New Zealand submitted its most recent periodic reports to the Committee in February 2022. In November 2023, following the State’s general election, a new Government was formed, consisting of a coalition of three parties. It was a priority for the Government to improve the lives of all New Zealanders irrespective of their background. The Government would continue to honour the Treaty of Waitangi and ensure all New Zealanders had the benefit of a strong economy that could deliver jobs and incomes and sustain a good standard of living, had access to decent housing, and had access to the best education for their children.
New Zealand had a well-established process to settle grievances caused by the Crown’s historic acts and omissions that breached the Treaty of Waitangi in the past. Through settlements, the Crown sought to address the wrongs of the past by enabling a focus on the future and delivering better outcomes for Māori and their communities. The State was committed to completing the Treaty settlement process that began in the 1990s. Significant swathes of Crown land had been returned to Māori tribes as cultural redress, together with financial, commercial and historical redress by way of a Crown acknowledgement and apology. Between 2022 and 2025, a further five Treaty settlements were completed, with a total financial and commercial redress of 138 million New Zealand dollars.
Māori continued to experience disproportionately poorer outcomes across most socio-economic indicators. It was a priority for the Government to improve the lives of all New Zealanders, including Māori. Mr. Goldsmith introduced a programme called Whānau Ora (a Māori centric approach), which was used across Government in housing, health, criminal justice, and employment. The programme provided funding to Māori to design and deliver services for their communities in a more joined up way. Māori health expertise was also being integrated into the mainstream health system, enabling greater community leadership to meet local needs and improving access to health services that worked for Māori.
New Zealand recognised and celebrated the important contributions of people of many different ethnicities. The Ministry for Ethnic Communities was established in July 2021 following a recommendation from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch on 15 March 2019. The Ministry was focused on economic growth, security and resilience, social cohesion and wellbeing for ethnic communities.
Māori were disproportionately represented as both perpetrators and victims of violent crime. One of the Government’s priorities was to ensure people feel safer and were protected from instances of violence and that offenders were held accountable. The State’s refreshed focus on criminal justice reform emphasised public confidence in the justice system, a stronger focus on law and order, and restoring personal responsibility for offending. The Government had set a target of reducing the number of victims of violent crime by 20,000 by 2029. The latest New Zealand crime and victims survey showed that for the year to August, there were 38,000 fewer victims than the baseline set in October 2023. This meant that the Government was on track to deliver on this target ahead of time. New Zealand’s national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence set a framework to work towards this goal.
MELISSA DERBY, Race Relations Commissioner, New Zealand Human Rights Commission, said the domestic context had shifted significantly since the Committee’s 2017 review. The eight years since had been marked by major human rights issues, including the Christchurch mosque terror attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related disasters, economic insecurity, the largest Royal Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children in State and faith-based care, and a series of reforms undermining Māori rights as indigenous people.
The State had made some progress in some areas, but more could be done. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) was New Zealand’s founding document. Despite this, it enjoyed minimal constitutional or legal protection, and a recent wave of reforms had reversed decades of progress on Te Tiriti and indigenous rights. These were advanced without genuine engagement with Māori, or their free, prior and informed consent. The Committee needed to call on New Zealand to act on previous recommendations to advance constitutional conversations about Te Tiriti, which would provide certainty for both treaty partners, as well as for all other communities, and provide a foundational pathway to strengthening social cohesion.
Ethnic minority communities – both long-established and newly arrived – made valuable contributions to New Zealand. However, these communities experienced persistent racism and racial discrimination in health, justice, education, housing and employment. Some targeted measures to address increasingly disparate outcomes had been scaled back or discontinued. Migrant exploitation and modern slavery also remained significant issues. Global anti-migrant discourse was slowly being imported domestically, primarily in online spaces but also in public and political rhetoric. The Committee needed to call on the Government to invest in community initiatives and ensure Government structures and processes reflected the State’s changing demographics.
There was also limited access to remedy for people who experienced racism and racial discrimination. The Committee needed to call on the Government to adequately fund and resource the national human rights institution to fulfil its statutory functions, and to make genuine progress towards implementing the Committee’s recommendations.
Questions by a Committee Expert
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said this was the thirteenth time that New Zealand had appeared before the Committee. Noting that today was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, she expressed the Committee’s solidarity with the global effort to combat violence against women. How was the Convention applied by domestic courts? Could the delegation provide examples of cases in which courts had referenced the Convention?
The Committee noted measures to improve the policy response to hate crimes. To what extent did these steps increase reporting of hate crimes? Hate speech legislation had not been amended to fully comply with article four of the Convention, despite the Christchurch mosque attack and ongoing concerns about rising racist and xenophobic hate speech, amplified by social media algorithms and statements by high-level Government officials. Would the State party review its media regulatory framework to address racial hatred and racial superiority? How many cases of hate speech had been investigated over the reporting period?
Serious concerns had been expressed about the gangs act of 2024. Māori were more likely to be included in the gang identification database, while there was uncertainty whether white supremist groups would be similarly captured. What steps had been taken to ensure that this legislation did not conflict with the State’s obligations under article four of the Convention?
Could the State party provide updated statistics on racial discrimination complaints under the human rights act and the outcomes of these complaints? Māori and Pacific people were disproportionately represented among adult victims of violence and offenders, and Asian communities reported higher levels of perceived insecurity. What measures would the State party take to address the disproportionate victimisation of these communities, and improve data collation and targeted interventions to ensure their safety and access to justice?
Ethnic and migrant women who experienced violence faced heightened risks due to language barriers, social isolation and immigration status, which affected their ability to report abuse. What measures had the State party taken to facilitate and support women’s access to justice considering these barriers? How had resources been allocated to achieve this objective?
The Committee noted that the Government had accepted all the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry following the terrorist attack in Christchurch and that the Government had apologised for the disproportionate scrutiny of Muslim communities and neglect of extremism. However, in 2024, the Government ended its programme to implement these recommendations. There had also been a 4.8-million-dollar reduction in funding for the coronial inquiry and related judicial review. What progress had been made in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry?
Up to 200,000 people had suffered severe physical, psychological and sexual abuse in State and faith-based care between 1950 and 1999, with many experiences amounting to torture marked by systemic racism. Māori and Pacific children were disproportionately affected by these abuses. The Committee welcomed the public apology issued by the Government in 2024 and recent redress schemes for Lake Alice survivors. However, the Government had not fully accepted the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. What measures had been taken to establish a redress mechanism and provide meaningful reparations? Abuse and violence in State care was reportedly ongoing, with Māori and Pacific children significantly overrepresented among victims. Would the State party fully implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry and establish an independent redress scheme? How was the State reforming the alternative care system?
The understanding policing delivery research programme commissioned by New Zealand police found systematic bias in policing practices, with Māori and other ethnic groups experiencing significant inequalities, including higher likelihood of prosecution, increased complaints about use of force and warrantless searches, and disproportionate representation in racial profiling complaints. Did the State party intend to implement the recommendations of the research programme and ensure that policing policies and practices complied with human rights obligations?
Currently, over 50 per cent of all men and over 60 per cent of all women imprisoned were Māori. How was the State addressing this issue and investing in community-based rehabilitation and programmes aimed at reducing recidivism? How was it promoting increased representation of Māori in the judiciary? Would the State party provide training on cultural awareness for the judiciary?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the bill of rights act prohibited discrimination on the grounds set out in the human rights act, which made discrimination unlawful on grounds including colour, race, ethnicity and national origin. Between 2021 and 2025, New Zealand courts had assessed 23 cases related to racial discrimination. The most significant of these was a case being examined concerning the Māori health authority amendment act 2024 and whether it indirectly discriminated based on race.
The Government had decided to not further extend the significant existing legislative response that the State had taken to hate speech that incited violence and racial disharmony. The human rights act prohibited speech that incited racial disharmony and provided penalties for such speech. The Government had decided not to extend hate speech laws to protect freedom of speech and ensure that activities such as non-discriminatory satire and ridicule were not prohibited.
The Government’s focus was to reduce crime rates and its attention had turned to gangs. Less than one per cent of adult New Zealanders were part of a gang, but gangs were associated with up to 25 per cent of violent crime. The Government was firmly responding to this. It had appointed a ministerial advisory group focused on protecting ethnic minorities in the retail sector from violent youth crime and had set a target of reducing cases of serious youth offences by 15 per cent by 2030. It was also focused on reducing factors that contributed to youth crime, such as truancy.
From 2016 to 2025, more than 9,600 complaints alleging unlawful discrimination had been made to the national human rights institution, and 2,600 of them related to race. In the same period, 316 complaints of racial disharmony were made.
In the justice system, the representation of Māori and Pacific judges had increased. In district courts, 24 per cent of judges had Māori ancestry.
Over the last five years, the number of cases of hate crimes reported to the police had doubled, thanks to increased awareness of such crimes. Police had recorded 11 offences related to inciting racial disharmony. The police executive had considered all 51 recommendations from the understanding policing delivery report, and had decided to implement 15 of them, and to consider the rest. Training on cultural competency and diversity was provided for all police staff.
The Government had responded comprehensively to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack. A national strategy for countering terrorism and violent extremism had been devised and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities had been established to represent ethnic community interests. The State had also paid attention to gun control and firearm safety. Funding had been set aside to implement the Commission’s recommendations.
Questions by Committee Experts
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked whether the State party had considered the Committee’s general recommendation 35 on hate speech. The State party needed to consider the freedom of expression of the victims of hate speech. Racist groups were becoming more powerful around the world. How would the State party combat this challenge? The Committee hoped that the State party would also consider the Committee’s general recommendation 36, which called on States to adopt policies to address algorithmic profiling. How did the State party facilitate access to justice for ethnic minority women who were victims of violence?
GUN KUT, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said hate speech could not be used to peacefully resolve a dispute. Political powers needed to deal with problems resulting from hate speech, such as the Christchurch tragedy.
One Committee Expert said that there were measures being taken by the Government, such as the electoral amendments act, that appeared to limit the ability of disenfranchised members of the population to participate in elections. The Treaty of Waitangi was an important founding document of New Zealand, but proposed legislation seemed to seek to erode the rights of indigenous peoples established in the Treaty. Could the delegation comment on these issues?
Another Committee Expert asked how many times the State party had consulted civil society in preparing for the dialogue? How many civil society organizations were working in the field of racial discrimination? The Committee had received allegations of threats, intimidation and reprisals against Māori chiefs. Could the State party confirm these reports? Some 60,000 hectares of land had been forcibly taken from the Māori community. Had there been agrarian reform that sought to return this land? Why was there an overrepresentation of Māori persons in prison?
FAITH DIKELEDI PANSY TLAKULA, Committee Expert and Follow-Up Rapporteur, said that the Committee had previously called on the State party to set up an independent Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children and adults with disabilities in State care from 1950 to 1990 with the authority to determine redress for victims, but the State party had not implemented all its recommendations in this regard. Māori made up 81 per cent of child victims of abuse in care as of 2017. What was the current rate and what was the State doing to reduce this rate? The Royal Commission had not been able to provide compensation for abuse or neglect. What agencies could provide such redress?
A Committee Expert called on the delegation to invite the Committee to visit the country. The State party needed to continue to work to redress the victims of past abuse in State institutions and hold those responsible accountable.
Another Committee Expert asked whether there were legal provisions that applied harsher punishments, such as longer prison terms, for hate crimes.
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said a Royal Commission into historic abuse in State and faith-based care was set up in 2019. It had made its final recommendations in 2024, making 233 recommendations in total, of which 207 had been addressed by the Crown. The Government was working to implement the remaining recommendations. It had acknowledged that torture had occurred at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital. Payments of 20,000 dollars were made to the survivors of the hospital and a 32-million-dollar investment had been made in increasing the capacity of the redress and claims system. A national day of reflection was held in 2025 on the anniversary of the Government’s public apology for the abuses, made on 12 November 2024. The Government was continuing to work to address the over-representation of Māori children in State care.
New Zealand’s legislation allowed people to enrol on the day of elections, but this slowed the vote counting process. Proposed legislative changes called for enrolment to be completed 13 days before elections began; this was in line with practices in other States such as the United Kingdom. Enrolling to vote was compulsory in New Zealand, and this change would not affect democratic participation in the State.
Domestic violence and sexual violence had a disproportionate impact on ethnic minority women. The Government had developed two action plans to address these issues, which included measures to strengthen risk assessment procedures, interventions, and training for officials and non-governmental organizations working to protect women. The Government was also working with perpetrators to reduce the possibility of reoffending.
The State party engaged with civil society extensively over the four-week period in which it prepared its report and also engaged with 40 individuals and organizations this year in preparation for the dialogue. The delegation was not aware of allegations of threats and reprisals against Māori persons and called for more information on these allegations.
Questions by a Committee Expert
GUN KUT, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, called for updated statistical information disaggregated based on ethnicity on recipients of refugee status, student and work visas; people experiencing homelessness and living in emergency housing; and access to health services. What efforts had been made to address ethnic pay gaps, particularly in the private sector?
What was the status of development of a national action plan against racism, which the Committee had called on the State to devise in 2017? Had a final draft been submitted for public consultation and had resources been set aside for its implementation? How would the plan address racism against the Māori and how would the State assess implementation of the plan? The Government had disestablished the Māori Health Authority, which was a significant rollback of commitments to health equity that doubly affected Māori with disabilities. How was the State party mitigating the negative consequences of this action?
Could the State party provide information on the mandates and resources available for the Ministry on Ethnic Communities, Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and the Ministry of Māori Development? What measures had been taken to ensure that cultural diversity was respected within the State party? What awareness raising campaigns on cultural and linguistic identities and the history of ethnic and indigenous groups were in place? Could the delegation provide updated information on the implementation and monitoring of the social cohesion framework? What steps had been taken to increase ethnic representation in the education workforce and address bullying and harassment based on race and religion in schools?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said all statistics gathered in the New Zealand census were published and disseminated widely. The Ministry of Ethnic Affairs developed a framework for drawing out insights from different ethnic groups through data collection in 2024. The next census would put greater emphasis on administrative data, which would allow it to be updated more regularly and make it more flexible.
The disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority was not a rollback in the State’s commitment to equity in the health space. The previous administration had set up a new governance structure for health, but there was no evidence that it had been effective. Māori youth immunisation rates were at 94.6 per cent in 2017, but they had fallen to around 64 per cent after six years of the Māori Health Authority. The current Government was reforming this structure to improve functioning of the health sector for Māori. The Ministry of Health continued to develop Māori health policies, developed in conjunction with a Māori advisory committee. Over one billion dollars in funding was available for Māori health services. The current Government was redeveloping the Māori health strategy to ensure that it addressed disproportionate health needs and promote access to services.
In recent years, due to the tough fiscal environment, the Government had not been investing significantly in the arts. However, there had been a significant increase in investment in Māori performative art programmes.
The social cohesion framework, which aimed to tackle discrimination and promote ethnic harmony, included a measurement framework that allowed for reporting on its implementation.
It had taken longer than expected to develop the national action plan on racism, due in part to the change in Government, but the current Government would continue its work in this regard.
New Zealand accepted a high rate of refugee applications. New migrants were immediately able to access education and health care.
Questions by Committee Experts
GUN KUT, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, asked if there was a strategy to mitigate the negative consequences of the Government’s “acceptable standard health requirements”, which reportedly resulted in family separation in some cases? Were there safeguards in place to ensure that the new administrative data collection system for the census did not result in gaps in the Māori electoral roll, for example?
The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions had called on New Zealand to allow the national human rights institution to visit places of detention unannounced. How did the State party ensure the implementation of the institution’s recommendations and appropriate funding for it?
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, called on the State party to respond to indirect discrimination and strengthen the protection of minority groups.
FAITH DIKELEDI PANSY TLAKULA, Committee Expert and Follow-Up Rapporteur, called for statistics on the percentage of Māori children in State care.
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the census did not impact the Māori electoral roll, as it was compiled in a separate process.
There were specific health strategies addressing minority populations, including the Māori and Pacific groups, and requirements that ensured that these health services were safe, culturally sensitive and effective. In 2024, some 88 per cent of patients had reported that their cultural needs were met in the delivery of health services.
In 2024, 69 per cent of children in State care were of Māori ethnicity.
There had been a slight reduction in funding for the national human rights institution in 2024 and 2025, in the context of the extremely tight national budget, after several increases to the institution’s budget during the previous administration. The State party remained committed to the work of the national human rights institution and was ensuring that it had the resources needed to do its job. The various preventative mechanisms in New Zealand had free access to detention facilities and had independent reporting frameworks.
The District Court had changed its protocols, changing the way that it engaged with different ethnic groups to promote greater access to justice and to the Court’s support services.
Questions by Committee Experts
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the Committee welcomed the State party’s recognition in the report of the importance of Māori customs, world views and cultural heritage in shaping policy and legislation, and the recognition of the ongoing social and structural inequalities affecting the Māori people. However, it was indicated that addressing these structural intersecting issues was viewed as a burden by the public. How did New Zealand plan to address these issues? What were concrete outcomes from the 2019 to 2034 strategy in this regard?
The Committee had taken note of the initiatives by the State to address gender-based violence, which were important. What measures had been developed in consultation with Māori women and those from marginalised communities to combat this issue? How did the State intend to address the systemic barriers regarding the pay gap for Pacific women? How did New Zealand plan to improve data collection for deaf Māori people, expand interpreter capacity, and implement the Pacific Disability Approach? How was it ensured that Māori and Pacific peoples with disabilities could access the support they needed?
Māori and other minority communities experienced poor housing conditions, with new legislative changes and climate change posing further insecurity. Did the State plan to invest in housing programmes for Māori, refugee and other minority communities? What steps were being taken to strengthen accountability mechanisms for racial discrimination in the private system? How did the Māori health strategy address the specific issues facing these communities, such as high rates of cervical cancer among women, and climate related health risks? Did the strategy seek to combat racial bias within the health system?
What steps were being taken to address persistent pay gaps, particularly for women? Due to structural inequalities leading to poverty, Māori people were overrepresented as benefactor receivers, as well as Pacific peoples and people of African descent. How did New Zealand plan to reform policies to improve access to support, and strengthen income and employment assistance?
The Committee was concerned about the legal recognition and practical application of Māori right to self-determination, in relation to the Waitangi Treaty. How did the State ensure that the deprivation of Māori sovereignty was not perpetrated under current legal frameworks? Could an update be provided to the Committee on resettlement processes and mechanisms for redress? How were Māori consulted and what steps were being taken to ensure proposed legislative amendments did not interfere with Māori customary rights?
The Committee was concerned about insufficient mitigation measures for climate change, which disproportionately impacted the Māori population. What was New Zealand doing to align climate commitments with the Convention, to mitigate this disproportionate impact and guarantee partnership and consultation with Māori?
The Committee was also concerned about ongoing challenges in supporting Māori education, including insufficient funding for teacher training. Could the curriculum reforms from 2023 be explained? How did these impact Māori learners? How did the State plan to ensure support was available for parents with disabilities? How did the State party ensure that State care fully considered the Waitangi Treaty?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the Government had put in place a redress package of over 500 million dollars following the Aged Care Commission. There would be an independent review of the redress system in 2027 and there would be an opportunity to assess whether an independent entity was needed in this regard. In May this year, there had been five claims of racial discrimination and harassment before the authority, with one of those five being successful.
The corrections team had a team dedicated to working with Māori inmates to apply Māori world views, and had partnerships with various tribal groups. Specialist units offered rehabilitation pathways focused on Māori practices. Several programmes were in place, including a pathway which aimed to divert offenders prior to going to court.
The Government had invested enormously to offer support for people without housing, either through State housing or accommodation supplements. There had been a strong focus on providing more adequate housing, including for 3,000 families living in emergency accommodation. The Government was primarily focused on access to land, social housing, infrastructure, improving rental markets, and making homes cheaper to build. One initiative included allowing communal housing to be developed more quickly without as much red tape. The Government had been successful in placing the last of the families living in emergency housing into more permanent accommodation, which was a significant achievement.
In recent years, New Zealand had been successful in reducing the number of New Zealanders who were smoking, including Māori people. The health and disability strategy, spanning three years, was currently being addressed. The State had a strong focus on maternity care and recognised the importance of investing in early care for Māori women and children. Māori provider funding had increased by more than 88 per cent from 2019 to 2024, and there had also been an increase in the number of Māori providers. Māori daily smoking had decreased in the last five years from 35 per cent to 15 per cent, which was pleasing news, but there was a need to decrease this further.
New Zealand had had equal pay legislation in place since the 1970’s, and the Government had made changes to make the regime more sustainable. New Zealand also had a gender pay gap tool kit, which was a proactive way for businesses to take the lead and voluntarily report on gender pay gap initiatives.
Questions by Committee Experts
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked for more information on the resettlement programmes.
FAITH PANSY TLAKULA, Committee Expert and Follow-Up Rapporteur, said the Committee had called upon the State party to collect and provide information on the extent of land retained through the settlement process. However, there was a lack of available statistics. How did the State plan to evaluate the success of the settlement processes if statistics were not collected? Had the plant variety rights bill, introduced in parliament in 2021, been adopted?
A Committee Expert asked for clarification on the amount of Māori land which had been returned? Did the State consider that there was equality before the law in New Zealand and equal access to justice for all?
Another Committee Expert was concerned about the marine and coastal amendment act of 2025, which took the Māori people back to 2004. Did New Zealand’s Constitution have legally enforceable provisions allowing for discriminatory laws to be challenged over time? If so, under which provisions?
Another Expert said persons of African descent represented a small per cent of the population. Were they exposed to racial discrimination? To what extent did the education system prepare the population to understand different cultures?
An Expert asked if there was room for appointing more Māori judges, using the principle of special measures? If Māori had customary rights, why did they need to apply for recognition?
A Committee Expert asked if the Waitangi Treaty allowed the Māori people to obtain reparations?
Another Expert asked how many Māori persons were part of the education system and to provide exact statistics? How did the curriculum address the historic injustices experienced by Māori people? What measures were being taken to access the health situation and health system in their own language?
A Committee Expert said the Committee had received information that the Government had put an end to the obligatory teaching of Māori language and culture. What had been the effects of this? What was being done to ensure the Māori’s right to their culture?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said there had been equal voting rights in New Zealand for many decades. New Zealand had no wish to move away from equality before the law. Access to justice was still a work in progress and New Zealand had substantial work remaining to achieve that goal. To date, there had been 102 deeds of land returned, with settlements continuing to be carried out. The treaty settlement process required a measure of grace from all sides, as these pertained to events happening nearly 200 years ago. It was a best endeavour for the people of this generation to acknowledge the misdeeds of the past.
The enrolment of Māori in the schooling system had been increasing and there had been an increase in students participating in Māori language education. As of July 2024, 30 per cent of the total number of students were involved in Māori language education. The Government continued to invest in training for teachers to develop Māori language capacity and develop skills in other areas. The Government was currently reviewing the national curriculum, and areas which included New Zealand’s history were being updated to ensure a mix of local and international content, giving students the chance to learn about key aspects of New Zealand’s history, including colonialism. There had been no policy changes for the funding of Māori education, which was bulk funded.
In the last two years, the single biggest investment in the arts had been investment in Kapa haka competitions for traditional Māori dance. The State also funded Māori broadcasting, and this year had a particular focus on the traditional Māori new year celebrations.
Since the Waitangi Tribunals report was released, the Government had continued to progress approaches to the effective recognition of indigenous knowledge and cultural expression across a wide number of domains. This work had directly led to over 11 million dollars in investment. This had notably increased the capacity of Māori to increase and engage their role as guardians in this area. A recent highlight included the successful conclusion on the international treaty on traditional knowledge and patents at the World Intellectual Property Organization conference in 2024. The Government now aimed to introduce intellectual property regulations regarding the use of this knowledge.
The Government aimed to encourage as many people as possible to not be reliant on welfare and get back to work if possible. The best way to do this was to have a dynamic culture which provided extensive jobs, and to also ensure young people did not have access to easy welfare payments. Evidence showed if people went onto welfare as a teenager, they were much more likely to remain on welfare for the rest of their lives.
The Government was undergoing risk assessment to determine how many Māori meeting grounds were at risk of flooding. Several programmes recognised Māori’s connection with the land and aimed to address issues concerned.
The main contingent with the land resettlements was whether groups were prepared to settle. This was the primary indication of the programme’s success.
According to the plant variety rights bill, the Māori plant variety committee reviewed applications on certain species and made binding decisions.
Questions by Committee Experts
GUN KUT, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said several Māori members of parliament were escorted from parliament following a protest. How was this in line with free speech? Mr. Kut also asked for more current information on ethnic representation in parliament, and Māori participation in elections and local government. Next year was an election year, and there would be election campaigns. The Committee was interested to hear about the strategies planned by the authorities to prevent hate speech in campaigns targeting racialised communities, including statements by elected officials?
There were some good support measures in place for employment for former refugees and migrants; could updated information be provided, including on the employment strategy? Had the plan targeting refugees and migrants in employment been enacted? The Committee had information that refugees arriving to New Zealand were granted a visa on arrival, resettled at a reception centre, and then they participated in a reception programme, including integrated health and education services, all of which were commendable efforts. How did it work in real life situations? What issues were encountered and what solutions were provided? Did the resettlement fund still exist? What were its outcomes?
Reports had been received which raised concerns about asylum seekers being held in criminal justice facilities. What was the current situation? What State policy initiatives, which ensured alternatives, were available for migrants aside from detention facilities? There was a commendable development in 2021, where the Prime Minister delivered an apology for dawn raids.
Could updated information on the migrant settlement and integration strategy be provided, as well as the refugee settlement strategy? What measures had been enacted to address ethnic pay gaps across the employment sector? The New Zealand refugee strategy had been refreshed in 2023 and from 2025 there was to be a full review of resettlement pathways. Where was this at?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said New Zealand’s political system had seven specific Māori seats out of the parliament of 120. There were currently 33 members of parliament of Māori descent, meaning Māori were well represented. In 2001, change was made so that Māori wards could be established at the local government level. The process was decided upon by a referendum, to ensure this was agreed by everyone in the ward. This had been changed during the previous government but reinstated by the current government. More than half of one electorate had voted to remove the Māori wards, and so this was now the case. Regarding the protest mentioned, the members of parliament had acted in a manner which was intimating, and the required processes had been carried out as a result.
There had been a decrease in the number of migrants reporting cases of discrimination, down to 17 per cent in 2023, which was a step in the right direction. The employment rate of recent migrants in New Zealand was improving and tended to be higher than the employment rate of New Zealanders.
New Zealand had a long and proud history of resettling refugees. Since the last review, New Zealand now accepted 1,500 refugees annually, which was double the previous quota. A framework was in place to support asylum seekers and refugees arriving in New Zealand, including access to social security, interpreters, and a weekly allowance. In 2023, the refugee strategy was expanded to include family support and Afghan interpreters and evacuees, among other factors. New Zealand evaluated the strategy nationally.
New Zealand did not have any immigration detention centres. Asylum seekers generally lived in the community, and only in exceptional circumstances or as a matter of last resort were they detained in prisons. Between 2016 and 2020, 86 asylum seekers were detained at some point in prison, with the average period being eight days. There were currently legislative changes before parliament to introduce electronic monitoring as an alternative to prison, which could be imposed by a district court judge.
New Zealand had a steady decrease in school attendance, accelerated over the COVID-19 period. In 2023, only 33 per cent of Māori students regularly attended school, and now two years later this figure had reached 44 per cent. There was still a long way to go, but there had been significant improvement in this regard.
New Zealand remained committed to combatting trafficking in persons and had an action plan in place to prevent, detect, disrupt and deter trafficking in persons. It had been delivered via training, the development of information on migrant worker rights, and conducting research, among other activities. The Government was also strengthening trafficking and people smuggling laws.
Questions by Committee Experts
GUN KUT, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said the Committee had received reports that the family reunification process was arduous. There was also information that the Government was refusing to grant visas to Palestinians. Was this the case? Mr. Kut commended the State party for being punctual with their follow-up procedure. This time, the Committee would request the State party to provide within one year of the adoption of the concluding observations, information on the implementation of several areas which required urgent action.
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the referendum on Māori wards was interesting. Nationwide, it seemed that Māori wards were kept, indicating a growing support for these wards.
A Committee Expert said New Zealand remained one of the countries most exposed to climate change. Had the country submitted its aims on poverty and health, and how had the Sustainable Development Goals progressed in terms of people of African descent and the Māori? Given New Zealand’s system which did not consider the consequences of climate change, many migrants had been excluded. What was the State doing to lift these conditions? How would the State improve the conditions under which climate refugees and migrants might be accepted?
Another Committee Expert asked what was the reason for the authorities denying Palestinians access to New Zealand, which was a democratic country that respected human rights?
Another Expert asked what measures were being taken by the State party to monitor hate crimes?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the Royal Commission which had followed the terrorist attacks had requested the Government to consider the current settings. New Zealand had approved 274 applications of Palestinian refugees, out of more than 300. Family reunification had increased from 300 to 600 families per year. New Zealand was conscious of the health consequences and aimed to ensure the five million people living in New Zealand had access to health care, and were mindful of adding additional burden to that system.
Māori language training was available in 2025 and was increasing across New Zealand. Māori traditional medicine was promoted and protected by Māori and its State funding had increased in recent years, enabling a 200 per cent increase in access to services.
There were no specific laws requiring organizations to consider modern slavery within their supply chains, but there were penalties in place for businesses and individuals involved in this process.
Closing Remarks
STAMATIA STAVRINAKI, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, expressed sincere appreciation for the constructive and rich dialogue over the past two days. New Zealand had long demonstrated its support to the international community through its support of multilateralism and the United Nations treaty body system. New Zealand had spoken of special measures to address the structural inequalities based on Māori peoples, refugees, and Pacific and migrant peoples, but these must not be conflated with ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples. Upholding these rights required Constitutional action and only through such steps could the State party secure genuine and lasting progress, which celebrated the nation’s diversity. Ms. Stavrinaki thanked all those who had made the dialogue possible.
PAUL GOLDSMITH, Minister of Justice of New Zealand and head of the delegation, thanked the delegation for the constructive dialogue over the past two days. The journey to Geneva took longer than the time the delegation would spend here, which Mr. Goldsmith hoped was reflective of New Zealand’s commitment to human rights. The State was conscious that racial discrimination was a complex and challenging issue. New Zealand was proud of the progress made since the last review, but acknowledged there was more work which needed to be done. Mr Goldsmith thanked all those who had made the dialogue possible.
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Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
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