Under which human rights treaty should you make a complaint?
If you reach a point when you believe there are no other ways left to resolve your complaint in New Zealand, you may be able to take it to one of the United Nations Committees. It is important that you approach the right Committee, because once you have submitted your complaint to a United Nations Committee you cannot send it to another one as well. The Human Rights Commission will be able to offer you advice on which Committee to send your complaint to.
For example, if you are a disabled prisoner who is unable to access information because of a hearing impairment and other prisoners can access this information, you may be being discriminated against because of your disability. If you have tried all ways possible to sort out your complaint in New Zealand including: going through the Department of Correction’s complaints processes and complaining to the Office of the Ombudsman or Human Rights Commission; you can make a complaint to one of two United Nations Committees. You could make your complaint to the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture using the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) because you are complaining about a place of detention. Or you can send your complaint to the UN Disability Committee because it is a complaint about discrimination because of your disability. You should get advice before deciding which committee to send your complaint to.
There are 10 human rights treaty bodies monitoring the key international human rights treaties. These are listed in the following table along with the treaty they monitor. Most have an optional protocol, and some have more than one – these are noted in the third column. New Zealand has not ratified all the treaties and optional protocols listed and where this is the case, it is noted in the third column.
Table 1: Human rights treaty bodies1
|
Treaty body |
Treaty |
Optional Protocol |
|
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) |
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) |
No optional protocol but has an Individual complaints procedure under the International CERD |
|
Human Rights Committee (CCPR) |
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UNCCPR) |
|
1 Accessed 20/03/2016 United National Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. View the ratification status by country or by treaty http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty. aspx?CountryID=124&Lang=EN
|
Treaty body |
Treaty |
Optional Protocol |
|
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) |
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) |
Optional Protocol to UNCESCR – New Zealand has not ratified |
|
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW ) |
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women |
Optional Protocol to CEDAW |
|
Committee Against Torture (CAT) and Subcommittee |
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman |
Optional Protocol to UNCAT |
|
Treaty body |
Treaty |
Optional Protocol |
|
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) |
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) |
|
|
Treaty body |
Treaty |
Optional Protocol |
|
Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW ) |
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members |
No optional protocol – New Zealand has not ratified this Convention |
|
Committee |
International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (UNCED) |
No optional protocol – New Zealand has not ratified this Convention |
|
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Disability Committee) |
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) |
Optional Protocol to the UNCRPD |
Decide which treaty you want to make your complaint under. You can only make a complaint under the treaties and optional protocols New Zealand has ratified. Once you have decided, then you need to approach that UN Committee. The steps you need to follow to make a complaint are on each Committee’s website.