Second review of New Zealand's implementation of the UNCRPD

This page is about the second and most recent review of New Zealand’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), run from 2018 to 2022.

Second review by the UNCRPD Committee

Countries that have agreed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) must report to the United Nations on how they are implementing it.

The second review of New Zealand’s progress started in March 2018 when the UNCRPD Committee released its List of Issues for New Zealand, and ended in September 2022 when it released its Concluding Observations that included 63 recommendations.

The process was different to that of the first review. Instead of submitting a separate progress report, the Government responded to the List of Issues. This is called a “Simplified Reporting Process”.

Implementing the UNCRPD

The government is progressing work on 46 of the 63 recommendations made by the UNCRPD Committee.

Response to the UNCRPD Committee’s recommendations

Key stages of the second review process

December 2017: The Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) provided the UNCRPD Committee with a 'shadow report' to help them decide what questions they should ask in the List of Issues.
13 March 2018: The 'List of Issues prior to reporting' (the List of Questions) was released by the Committee.
9 March 2019: The 'State Party Report' (a report) was sent to the Committee.
August 2022: The IMM provided the Committee with an updated report about the state of disability rights in New Zealand.
August 2022: New Zealand government delegation appeared before the Committee (the review in Geneva).
September 2022: 'Concluding Observations' (recommendations) released by the Committee.
September 2022 onwards until the next periodic review: Follow up response by New Zealand government to Concluding Observations (a report).

The UNCRPD Committee’s List of Issues – 2018

The ‘List of Issues’ is a list of questions the Committee wants the government to report back on.

The 2018 List of Issues for New Zealand included 100 questions which cover most articles in the UNCRPD and areas of people’s lives, including:

education
employment
accessibility
health
data
seclusion

UNCRPD Committee’s 2018 List of Issues external URL

Minister for Disability Issue's media release on the List of Issues external URL

Government's report in response to the List of Issues – 2019

The Government sent a report to the UNCRPD Committee on 9 March 2019 to answer the questions in the 2018 List of Issues.

The report provided information on what the Government has done over the past 4 years to implement the UNCRPD. provided a snapshot of where things were in 2019, identified areas where good progress had been made and areas for improvement.

The Government's response to the UN Committee (DOCX 205KB)

Summary - The Government's response to the UN Committee (PDF 108KB)