Report to Global Alliance of NHRIs on progress on implementing Merida Declaration by New Zealand’s NHRI
14 March 2016
1
Relevant Work Underway in New Zealand Prior to Merida Declaration
NPA and SDG Indicators
1The New Zealand Human Rights Commission (the Commission) had decided to develop New Zealand’s Second National Plan of Action for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NPA). The Commission determined that the recommendations that the State accepted in that process would provide the basis for the NPA.
2The Commission wanted human rights indicators to be part of the NPA. It worked with the OHCHR to understand the work that the OHCHR had done on human rights indicators. The Commission decided, after discussions with the Danish Human Rights Institute and the OHCHR, to wait until the Global Agenda 2030 had been set because it was by then apparent that the many of the SDG indicators would be human rights indicators.
3The NPA has a number of features which will be relevant to tracking realisation of SDGs in New Zealand, some of which have only recently been added, including:
aAbility to search Government actions and UPR recommendations by Issue, Population Group, Government Agency, UN Treaty Body
bCapacity to cross-reference Government actions against UPR recommendations and vice versa
cMonitoring actions against SMART criteria
dAdvanced search function and capability
eCustomised PDF reporting function allowing users to print own reports
4Further development of the NPA will include:
aStrengthening the UN Treaty Body function to link Concluding Observations of Treaty Bodies to UPR recommendations and Government actions
bIncorporation of links to SDGs and domestic indicators for relevant human rights and SDGs
cDirect link of data from the OHCHR databases
5Today New Zealand has a National Plan of Action which makes very clear exactly what work is and is not going on in New Zealand on each of the UPR recommendations. The plan is web based so new actions can be inserted as they are developed. SDG indicators when they are developed in New Zealand.
Monitoring Social and Economic Human Rights Realisation in disaster recovery
6A separate but very significant strand of recent work was important in the readiness of the Commission to respond to the SDG Agenda. With the assistance of the APF and CESCR the Commission had developed expertise in monitoring the realisation of social and economic human rights in the context of the recovery from the Canterbury Earthquake sequence. As a result there was greater capability in the Commission to do that work. There was also much wider appreciation amongst Parliamentarians, Ministers, officials, businesses and civil society that social and economic rights are human rights. There was particular focus on the right to adequate standard of living (particularly adequate housing), health and education.
7Many New Zealanders only think of political and civil human rights as “human rights” and many while committed to social development do not necessarily see that social and economic development is also a human right. The earthquake work has helped shift that thinking particularly in housing and health.
Monitoring projects already underway in New Zealand that would have relevance to social development and SDG indicators
8The Commission was, and is, also monitoring closely a number of projects that the State has underway that may be highly relevant to the Commissions human rights work and the SDG Agenda. These include:
aThe Integrity Project which is being undertaken by the State Services Commission (SSC) in response to a Transparency International Integrity Plus audit and as part of the Government’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership. The Commission had governance and other roles in the Integrity Plus Audit. The audit concluded that while New Zealand was one of the least corrupt countries in the world there was no room at all for complacency. Since then New Zealand has dropped from first equal to fourth in the Transparency International Corruption Index. The work in the Integrity Project relates to the anti-corruption parts of SDG Goal 16. Details on the Open Government Action Plan can be found here:
bThe Treasury Living Standards Framework. This is a tool to assist in the search for good quality public policies to respond to those circumstances where, for a myriad of reasons, the natural course of things leads to less-than-optimal outcomes across the dimensions which underpin living standards: material wellbeing, sustainability, equity, social cohesion, and managing risks. This work in part responds to the OECD’s work on wellbeing
9Another strand of work underway in New Zealand that is relevant to the SDG Agenda is work related to data and social investment. This work was underway independent of the SDG Agenda. It has the potential to make New Zealand a leader in how social investment is made and social development is measured to ensure that nobody is left behind. This work is also relevant to the Commission’s work in data/surveillance.
10The data and social investment work underway is:
aThe Data Futures Partnership which will lead the conversation the Government want to have in 2016 with the New Zealand public about the acceptable use of sensitive information.
bThe formation of the Social Investment Unit (a Ministry of Social Development/Treasury unit) which is charged with setting data and evaluation standards, and developing methods for estimating return on investment for selected spending. It is also tasked with building an information exchange that will enable the safe sharing of data to support better decision-making.
cThe Integrated Data Infrastructure where Statistics New Zealand has developed the world leading Integrated Data Infrastructure which brings together data from the Ministries of Social Development, Health and Education, as well as Child Youth and Family, Corrections, Police and Housing
11In the Commission’s submission on the review of the New Zealand Security and Intelligence Services, in its work on the Vulnerable Children’s Action Plan and in a number of speeches and publications last year – the Commission has emphasisedthat the principles on data collection or use need to be similar to the principles that govern other forms of surveillance because that is what data collection is – surveillance. And it is not just the rights to privacy and security of person that needs to be balanced it is also the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association that are in play. The Commission’s work in this area has assisted some agencies better understand how human rights should be balanced. The Commission has equally emphasised that the businesses, civil society organisations and government agencies involved in sharing sensitive information “to do good” need to be trained in human rights at least as well as New Zealand’s defence forces and police forces are in the context of their work. Otherwise there is the very real risk they will do badly. After all data can be as dangerous as bullets in the wrong hands.
12The social investment approach can only work if someone collects the data in the disaggregated way contemplated by the SDG Agenda. There needs to be some clearly understood principles for disaster reduction. For most populations New Zealand has good and rich data but some of the people most left behind in New Zealand, like the homeless or people with some disabilities, are areas where data is going to need to be collected if no one is to be left behind as promised by the Global Agenda 2030. More background on the social investment policy in New Zealand can be found here and here
13New Zealand has completed two cycles of the UPR process. Between now and 2030 there will be three more UPR reviews of New Zealand by the UN Human Rights Council and many UN Treaty Body reviews as well. In each of those cycles we want to improve the use of data to prove to New Zealanders and the rest of the world that New Zealand is meeting its SDG and human rights commitments. We anticipate a lot less words and a lot more data and trend lines.
Harmonisation and streamlining of SDG and Human Rights Reporting
14The Commission had asked the Government to consider a more harmonised and streamlined approach to UPR and Treaty Body reporting that the Commission hopes will be better for greater civil society involvement and better for the bodies and states monitoring New Zealand’s human rights performance. The current process of treaty body and UPR reporting is onerous and repetitive for civil society organisations and even for the much better resourced Government and NHRIs. It is difficult to see how the effort and resources applied to reporting now can ever be replicated by small island developing states.
15 The Commission has an internal project to consider how it could more effectively and efficiently report. At the same time the Government will look at processes from their perspective. At this early stage our early hypothesis is that there would be major reports prepared around a combined UPR/Higher Level Political Forum reporting, with annual human rights/SDG status reports that could provide the basis for Treaty Body and other reporting in the intervening period.
The Merida Declaration
16The Merida Declaration calls on NHRIS to “collaborate in mutual capacity building and sharing of experiences, and to consider the practical functions they can assume to contribute to a human rights-based approach to implementation of the Agenda.” The Commission’s work on Global Agenda is just getting underway. The most relevant aspects of the Merida Declaration to the work the Commission has done to date and will do are the following functions and activities as specified in the Merida Declaration:
aProvide advice to national and local governments, rights-holders and other actors, to promote a human rights-based approach to implementation and measurement of the Agenda, including by assessing the impact of laws, policies, programmes, national development plans, administrative practices and budgets on the realization of all human rights for all.
bDevelop and strengthen partnerships for implementation by promoting transparent and inclusive processes for participation and consultation with rights-holders and civil society at all stages of the implementation of the Agenda, such as the development of national and sub-national strategies to achieve the SDGs, including reaching out to those who are furthest behind.
cEngage with duty-bearers, rights-holders and other key actors, including government agencies, parliaments, the judiciary, local authorities, national statistical offices, civil society, major groups, marginalised groups, mainstream and social media, the UN and other international and regional institutions, to raise awareness and build trust and promote dialogue and concerted efforts for a human rights-based approach to implementation and monitoring of the Agenda, and safeguarding space for engagement of rights holders and civil society.
dAssist in the shaping of global and national indicators and sound data collection systems to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights in the measurement of the Agenda, including through seeking collaboration with national statistical offices, where appropriate, and other relevant national institutions, and by building on existing international and regional human rights mechanisms.
eMonitor progress in the implementation of the Agenda at the local, national, regional and international levels, to disclose inequality and discrimination in this regard, including through innovative approaches to data-collection and partnerships with rights-holders, vulnerable and marginalized groups for participatory and inclusive monitoring, and by identifying obstacles as well as actions for accelerated progress. Engage with, and hold governments to account for poor or uneven progress in the implementation of the Agenda, including by taking implementation progress and obstacles into consideration when reporting to parliaments, the general public and national, regional and international mechanisms, such as the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review, the Special Procedures, treaty bodies, as well as the International Labour Organization´s supervisory bodies, UN regional commissions and the High-level Political Forum.
Post Merida Declaration SDG Work by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission
Engagement with Government, business and civil society
17As colleagues will know the Danish Human Rights Institute has provided fellow NHRIs with great support and resources in regard to SDG work. The Commission would like to take this opportunity to again thank our Danish colleagues for their work. In New Zealand’s case these resources have also been very important in our engagement with our National Statistics Commission, Statistics New Zealand, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Treasury, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Social Development and with other human rights stakeholders. The Commission and officials we have shared the Danish resources with in other New Zealand ministries and people involved in civil society organisations have found the Danish resources particularly useful and not just for SDG related matters.
18Immediately after Merida meetings the Chief Commissioner visited New York to support the ICC efforts there on greater NHRI representation but also to meet with New Zealand’s Ambassador to the UN and Geneva and New York based MFAT staff who were in New York to brief them on the Merida Declaration and to share with them the Danish Institutes human rights analysis of the SDG Agenda. In particular, as requested by ICC and APF, we asked for and received support in arguing for the inclusion of particular SDG indicators relevant to NHRIs.
19In November 2015 the Commission attended the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Right Global Forum on Business and Human Rights. The focus of this forum was very strongly on the SDGs and the need for policy coherence at all levels, including all UN agencies, ILO, OECD, trade unions, business and wider civil society.
20The other reality the forum highlighted is that there is no way the Global Agenda 2030 is going to be delivered without business, Government and civil society working together. Considerable investment from business will be required.
21.The Chief Commissioner was invited to attend the Wilton House forum on Mega Sporting Events and Human Rights in November 2015. The purpose was to consider the establishment of a mechanism for promoting and protecting human rights in the context of mega sporting events. Major sports businesses, sports business sponsors, host governments, games organisation committees, trade unions, employers, UN agencies and other international organisations like the OECD were represented. The importance of sport in promoting the SDG Agenda had been emphasised in one session of the Global Forum.
22.The Mega Sport Events meeting deepened the Commission’s understanding of how these events will play a role in achievement of the Agenda 2030. Within a few years all the mega sports events that will take place before 2030 will be locked into host agreements so the need to ensure that the SDG Agenda is considered is urgent. The UN Secretary General has recently highlighted the particular role of sport in promoting the SDG Agenda in the organisation and operation of mega sports events.
23.At Mega Sports Events meeting the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation, David Grevenberg, used a diagram similar to the one below which we have adapted to the New Zealand situation, to explain the purpose of the Commonwealth Games. David was the CEO of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games where the Games Organisers worked with the Scottish Human Rights Commission and civil society to promote and protect human rights in the context of the organisation and operation of the Games. The next games are in Australia and South Africa.
24.David’s thinking was fundamental to the Commission developing the model below to engage stakeholders in understanding what good governance and policy coherence might mean in regard to human rights and the SDGs and the improvement of the wellbeing of New Zealanders.
Policy Coherence for human rights and the Global Agenda 2030
25.The diagram above was developed as a tool to explain how human rights and the Global Agenda are linked to the New Zealand Treasury’s Higher Living Standards Framework which is an overall wellbeing framework rather than simply a GDP based framework. It also shows how the political and civil rights provide the foundation on which the SDG pillars are built. The Commission has presented this model to a conference of young New Zealanders working with a private policy institute on poverty in New Zealand , shared it with senior officials in Treasury, Foreign Affairs, Social Development, Police, State Services, Defence, Sport, Justice, Statistics, presented it to a meeting of some of New Zealand’s most senior public servants organised by Transparency International and the Office of the Auditor General.