Post on 11-Jan-2016
Arthritis Staff Conference8 November 2013
Paul GibsonDisability Rights Commissioner
Human Rights Commission
• Human Rights Act new grounds for complaint
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
Twenty years ago
• A guide for disabled people and their families
Your human rights and making complaints
Range of Processes includes:
• ‘Enquires’
• Complaints of discrimination
• Class action
• Mediation
Range of Processes includes: continued
• Litigation
• Broader Human Rights matters
• Powers of Inquiry
• Part 1A (government) and part 2
• Human rights issues are broader than discrimination
Promotion, protection, monitoring human rights approach
• Accountability against international conventions
• Participation of effected in decision making
• Balancing rights, prioritising vulnerable
University course shifts to inaccessible premises
• Disability plan across whole university
• Funding to all tertiary education
TV channel made comments People First said were insulting
• HRC helped them go to Broadcasting Standards Authority
• Channel forced to apologise
Customer found no wheelchair accessible counter
• At mediation, organisation agreed to make accessible; and
• To better understand disability perspective; and
• To make all new counters accessible; and
• Apologised and made payment
Resolving issues for individuals is important
• Changing systems to prevent discrimination and other human rights violations is the bigger goal
What are Human Rights?
• ‘Respect for the inherent dignity of all people is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’
• ‘he tangata, he tangata, he tangata’
New Zealand’s Human Rights Successes
• Treaty
• Peace
• Women
• Social Welfare and Support
• Transgender
• Disability
United Nations Disability Convention
• New Zealand’s role in development
• Robert Martin
• Kiwis with learning intellectual disability are global leaders, worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize
International Comparisons
• Kimberley South Africa
• Apartheid, truth and reconciliation
• Kimberley Australia
International Comparisons - continued
• Stolen generations, sorry
• Kimberley New Zealand
• Institutionalisation
• As yet no apology
Violence, Abuse, Neglect, Bullying
• Of disabled people in residential families
• In relationships
• Of students with arthritis in schools
How to make disability issues a priority
• Celebrate
• Acknowledge past
• We need to create the interest, the energy, the resources for disability issues today