Hon Tariana Turia Minister for Disability Issues

The Human Rights Commission will receive an extra $300,000 per year to promote, protect and monitor the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Minister for Disability Issues, Tariana Turia, attended a disability community meeting at the Human Rights Commission to make a special Budget day announcement on 20^th May.

The extra funding will enable the Commission to increase its advocacy for disabled people’s rights. It will help enable the Commission to act as an independent, public advocate to promote awareness of disabled people’s rights and help monitor the Disability Convention.

The Commission’s extra funding is part of the Government’s investment of $2.34 million over the next three years to help promote, protect and monitor the rights of people with disabilities.

The Disability Convention, which was ratified by New Zealand in 2008, recommends a framework for promoting and monitoring disabled peoples’ rights. This framework must include at least one mechanism independent of government. The Minister’s announcement stated that the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsmen will have an active role as part of this independent mechanism, along with disabled people’s organisations.

The Government has also committed $750,000 to resource a network of disabled people’s organisations to monitor disabled people’s experience in living their life and the difficulties they encounter, such as with accessing government services (including disability supports). A qualitative research and monitoring programme will be established, overseen by the Disability Rights Promotion International Project based at York University in Canada.

The Commission is currently meeting with the Office of the Ombudsmen and the Disability Convention Coalition of disabled NGOs to coordinate the respective monitoring roles. The Commission is also developing internal proposals for how the Commission will undertake this additional work.

New Zealand’s first report to the UN on Convention implementation is due in October 2010.

Read Minister Turia’s Budget day announcements about disability funding: “$93 million more for disability support services” and “$6.8 million to improve the lives of disabled NZers”, and a fact sheet about funding to improve attitudes to disabled people.