The UN Committee against Torture is making 13 recommendations to improve human rights in New Zealand.

In a report the committee welcomes new measures now in New Zealand law but expresses many concerns, including about the over-representation of Maori in prisons and the use of solitary confinement for mental health patients.

It is also concerned about the lack of funding and autonomy for the independent Police conduct authority, violence against women and children and the failure to incorporate human rights into legislation.

Maori make up about 15% of the general population and about half the prison population.

Government officials told the committee the government’s youth crime action plan, launched in 2013, aims to tackle crime recidivism rates in young people, with a key focus on outcomes for Maori.

Courts are being held on marae (Maori meeting grounds) and Maori-centred rehabilitation is being established in prisons.

Regarding claims of past abuse of people in state care, the committee was told the ministry of social development had settled 575 claims of historic abuse by the end of 2014, health agencies had settled 449 claims and 28 claims had been settled in the education sector.

The government submitted its sixth periodic report to the committee in December 2013. The committee considered the report at a meeting in April 2015 and adopted it at a meeting in May.