Day 1 of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Review Session at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child wrapped up this evening (Geneva time), and our three representatives attended on behalf of the Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand, as the civil society reporting organisation. Te Kaikōmihana mō Ngā Tamariki (Children’s Commissioner) and New Zealand’s National Human Rights Institution, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata the Human Rights Commission, were also represented.

During the first day of the Review session, the New Zealand government delegation was asked over 50 questions about New Zealand’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the situation of children’s rights in Aotearoa.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is made up of 18 experts in children’s rights, from around the world. The members sit on the Committee in their independent capacity. The government delegation was led by the Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki, no Government Minister attending - unlike the previous Review, which was attended by then Minister Hon Anne Tolley (in 2016). Public servants from Oranga Tamariki, Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, Te Puni Kōkiri and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade made up the remaining members of the government delegation.

The Review took place in the historic Palais Wilson, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The Palais is the headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and is the location of the Committee room of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (see the picture, taken today!). At the start of the Review session, which ran for three hours, the head of New Zealand’s delegation provided a statement on the situation for children in our country, saying that “We acknowledge that challenges remain, yet we have established a strong foundation to accelerate progress.” You can read that statement here.

Following on from the opening statement, the Committee Taskforce for New Zealand (four members of the Committee leading the New Zealand Review) asked a rapid-fire round of questions in relation to the Convention in New Zealand. The government delegation then had a short break to decide how it would answer the questions.

The questions put to the Government delegation by the Committee covered a wide range of children’s rights issues, including, but not limited to:

• the general measures of implementation of the Convention

• why New Zealand continues to have reservations in place in relation to the Convention

• what the impact of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy has been

• data collection about children

• why such high rates of child abuse and family violence exists in Aotearoa New Zealand

• child mental health

• housing, including emergency housing

• the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki Act changes

• the performance of the Oranga Tamariki system

• a range of issues in relation to the education system

• children with disabilities

• the minimum age of criminal responsibility

• youth justice

• children who work

• adoption reform

• children’s environmental rights

• how New Zealand will promote and implement Optional Protocol 3 on a Communications Procedure.

The Government delegation answered as many of the questions in the time allotted, and will have the chance to continue answering during the second and final session tomorrow. The Committee members will then have the chance to ask follow-up questions.

The role of the Alliance during the session(s) is to listen carefully to how the Government is responding, and identify any inaccuracies and gaps, to point these out to the Committee members and make suggestions for lines of questioning by the Committee. We also took the opportunity to meet with many members of the Committee during the session, to highlight further questions they could usefully ask the government, and to emphasise the priority children’s rights issues in Aotearoa New Zealand as reported by civil society.

The Review session is being livestreamed, and a recording of the first session is available here. The livestream of the second part of the session tomorrow (Friday 27 January, 10am Geneva time) will be available via UN TV. At tomorrow’s session, we’ll again be representing the Alliance and ensuring that the Committee is asking the Government to be specific about how the Convention is or isn’t being implemented for children and tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Following on from this, we’ll work to influence the Committee as it prepares its Concluding Observations (recommendations) to New Zealand’s Government. More on that soon!