Human Rights Commission

The Human Rights Commission has commended the Draft Auckland Plan for taking up the human rights challenges of diversity and equality, and focusing on children and young people. Auckland is New Zealand’s, and one of the world’s, most culturally and ethnically diverse cities.  It is also the New Zealand city with the youngest population.

Overall, the Commission is supportive of the direction taken in the Draft Auckland Plan and believes it provides a very positive foundation for progressing a number of important human rights priorities that the Commission has identified through its Review of Human Rights in New Zealand 2010 and its annual Review of Race Relations.

The Commission’s submission on the Draft Auckland Plan:

• Notes that human rights are at the heart of the Auckland Plan, and recommends that the Auckland Plan explicitly acknowledge the human rights role and obligations of the Auckland Council
• Welcomes the attention given to reducing inequalities and valuing diversity
• Supports the attention given to the rights of children and young people, and the focus on early childhood, health, education and employment
• Welcomes the ‘Southern Initiative’ as an effort to address the extent of deprivation affecting this area, and as an important step towards improving outcomes for all Aucklanders
• Stresses the importance of accessibility and obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in relation to public transport and the built environment.

Read the Commission’s submission on the Auckland Plan – October 2011 (Word 80Kb).