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Response to recommendations from second UNCRPD examination

The New Zealand Government has agreed to an overall Government response to implement 51 out of 60 Concluding Observations that came from New Zealand’s last examination by the United Nations (UN) committee on its implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

New Zealand's second examination

New Zealand was examined by the UN committee for the second time on its implementation of the UNCRPD in August 2022 in Geneva. The Committee formally commended key areas of progress including:

  • the formation of Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People
  • the development of Enabling Good Lives
  • the work of the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care

The Committee also provided 60 “Concluding Observations”. These are recommendations for improvement on New Zealand’s implementation of the UNCRPD.

The Government's response to the Concluding Observations

The Government noted that the Concluding Observations were timely and provided Government with a strong direction to make more progress on implementing the UNCRPD.

Whaikaha would support and work with other Government agencies to identify which agencies would lead on implementing the Concluding Observations.

Whaikaha conducted a six-week consultation process with other Government agencies inviting them to indicate whether they agreed with the Concluding Observations and commit to an implementation planning process by December 2023.

During this consultation phase the proposed responses to the concluding observations were shared with the Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM).

Next steps

The Government has agreed to an overall Government response which agrees to implementing 51 out of the 60 Concluding Observations.

The Minister for Disability Issues will report back to Cabinet on agencies’ implementation progress and seek Cabinet agreement to an appropriate monitoring mechanism by December 2023.

The Government has also agreed to hold a public Domestic Forum process with the disability community by December 2027. This provides an opportunity halfway through implementation to ensure that progress is being made and ensures that agencies have an opportunity to improve implementation should they need to.

Full Cabinet paper and alternate formats

The Minister for Disability Issues agreed to proactively release the Cabinet paper that sought Government agreement to the Concluding Observations from the UN Committee. You can also view this proactive release. external URL

The full Cabinet paper is available in three alternate formats; braille, large print and audio. You can view the Cabinet paper summary with more alternate formats in the next section.

Summary of Cabinet Paper with Alternate formats