Thursday, 22 August, 2013 - 16:31

A draft report on the current position of New Zealand’s human rights has been released for public comment by Justice Minister Judith Collins.

The United Nations Human Rights Council reviews the human rights record of every UN member state once every four and half years as part of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

"New Zealand has a strong track record of human rights and our efforts in this area reflect global practice to which many nations aspire," Ms Collins says.

Each country submits a national report to the UN Council. The report is then measured against international human rights treaties, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law.

Ms Collins says New Zealand’s draft national report outlines our domestic human rights situation, and the steps the Government has taken towards implementing the last UPR report, which was completed in 2009.

"New Zealand is making significant progress in addressing the 56 recommendations that we accepted in 2009," Ms Collins says.

New Zealand’s final report will be submitted to the UN in November. Ms Collins will officially present the report to a UPR Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva early next year.

The draft report is available at www.mfat.govt.nz/upr. Anyone can make submissions via the website or to upr@mfat.govt.nz until 19 September 2013.