United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Cabinet agrees on a response to recommendations from UNCRPD examination

Cabinet has agreed to implement 51 out of 60 Concluding Observations that came from New Zealand’s last examination by the UN committee on its implementation of the UNCRPD.

New Zealand's second review against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The List of Issues for New Zealand released by the UN on 12 March starts our second review against the Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities

Read the Convention

This section lists the different formats and translations available of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the first United Nations human rights treaty of the 21st century. It does not create new rights for disabled people. Instead, it builds on conventional understandings of what is required to implement existing human rights as they relate to disabled people.

Optional Protocol

New Zealand acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on 5 October 2016.

The Optional Protocol enables individuals or groups, who claim to have had their rights breached under the Convention, to make a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Implementation of the Convention in New Zealand

New Zealand submitted its first report on implementing the UN Convention in March 2011. A draft report was circulated for public discussion during November-December 2010. The Office for Disability Issues and the Ministry of Social Development lead the report's development.

Framework to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the Convention

The Government has established a working arrangement with government and independent of government agencies to meet the obligation in the Convention's article 33.