When can a complaint be taken to the UN Disability Committee?

There is no time limit for sending a complaint to the UN Disability Committee. However, it is best that you send your complaint to them as soon as possible. Remember, you can only do this after you have tried to deal with your complaint using all the complaints processes available to you in New Zealand.

The UN Disability Committee will only accept a complaint if it is about an abuse of human rights that has happened in a country after the date it acceded to the CRPD-OP. If the abuse of rights started before the date the country agreed to the CRPD-OP and is still happening, the UN Disability Committee can still look into it. For example, if you are making a complaint about New Zealand, the issue you are complaining about must have occurred after the 4 November 2016, when the CRPD-OP came into force in New Zealand. However, if the issue you are complaining about started before this date and it is still happening, you can make a complaint to the UN Disability Committee.