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