Response to recommendations from second UNCRPD examination
In August 2022 New Zealand was examined by the United Nations (UN) Committee on its progress regarding its commitments to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Following this examination, the Committee made 63 observations about steps New Zealand should take to further its implementation of the Convention.
Progressing the Concluding Observations
In January 2025 the New Zealand Government agreed to an overall Government response to immediately progress 30 out of 63 of these Concluding Observations, with a further 17 observations to be considered as part of a refreshed Disability Strategy.
The observations from the UN Committee cover a wide range of government activities and services, including education, employment, health, housing, justice, and accessibility. Whaikaha supports government agencies in the work they do to align their roles and responsibilities with the Concluding Observations.
The Government noted the importance of the response to the recommendations in improving domestic human rights and New Zealand’s reputation as an international leader in this field.
Next steps
The Government has agreed to an overall government response that will immediately progress 30 of the 63 Concluding Observations where work is already underway or planned. A further 17 observations will be considered by Whaikaha as part of the work on a refreshed New Zealand Disability Strategy in 2025.
Progress on the recommendations will be uploaded to the Human Rights Monitor external URL (The Government’s online human rights monitoring tool) and updated on a six-monthly basis.
The Minister for Disability Issues will report back to Cabinet on progress towards the recommendations by December 2025.
Full Cabinet paper
The Minister for Disability Issues agreed to proactively release the Cabinet paper on progressing the Government response to the UNCRPD Concluding Observations.
- Cabinet Paper – UNCRPD Progressing the Government response to the UNCRPD Concluding Observations (PDF 307KB)
- Appendix Two – Progressing the Government response to the UNCRPD Concluding Observations (PDF 249KB)
The full Cabinet paper will also be available in three alternate formats; braille, large print and audio soon.