Introduction

Making complaints to the United Nations Disability Committee: A Guide for New Zealanders provides information to disabled people and public sector organisations in New Zealand on the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD-OP).

The CRPD-OP is part of an international human rights treaty (or agreement). It offers disabled people a way to make a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Disability Committee). To do so, they must first have exhausted all ways to resolve a problem domestically, that is, here in New Zealand.

International human rights agreements are intended to ensure governments protect and promote human rights. Disabled people in New Zealand continue to face discrimination preventing many from being able to live a full and good life. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) explains how to make human rights a reality for disabled people.

In September 2008, the New Zealand Government ratified the CRPD. This means the Government has a duty to protect and promote the human rights of all disabled people.

On 4 November 2016, the Government ratified the CRPD-OP. The CRPD-OP gives disabled people who think their rights have been denied or abused, a way to make a complaint to the UN Disability Committee – the Committee responsible for the CRPD.

This guide sets out information and steps you need to take before you can make your complaint to the United Nations Disability Committee.