New Zealand’s third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council took place during the 32nd UPR session, from 21 January to 1 February 2019 in Geneva.

Update, 27 February 2019: Government request for feedback on the UPR recommendations, the feedback deadline is 13 March 2019

Update: UPR recommendations on NZ ‣ as text ‣ pdf file

Update: the draft Outcome Report (A/HRC/WG.6/32/L.1) will be adopted by the UPR Working Group on Friday 25 January, starting at 3pm Geneva time (NZ time: 3am on Saturday, 26 January), details of how you can watch the session when the Report is adopted are in the 'New Zealand's review and how to watch it live' section below.

This page has information on the session, how to watch it live, the documents for New Zealand's review, links to NGO reports, the advance questions, and media coverage - updates will be added in the 'New Zealand's review' and 'media' sections below. Background information on New Zealand's third UPR is available here.

• The 32nd session
• New Zealand's review and how to watch it live
• Documents for New Zealand's review (includes links to the NGO reports and advance questions)
• Media coverage
• Where you can get more information about the UPR process

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The 32nd session

The UN Human Rights Council's 32nd UPR session is being held from 21 January to 1 February 2019 in Geneva. As well as New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Viet Nam, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Comoros, Slovakia, Eritrea, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic and Cambodia are being reviewed during the session. The timetable for the session is available here, and further information is available here.

New Zealand's review and how to watch it live

New Zealand's review took place on Monday 21 January, from 9am to 12.30pm in Geneva (NZ time: from 9pm on Monday 21 January to 12.30am on Tuesday 22 January), and the adoption of the UPR Outcome Report on New Zealand took place on Friday 25 January, starting at 3pm Geneva time (NZ time: 3am on Saturday, 26 January) - the draft Outcome Report (A/HRC/WG.6/32/L.1) is available as a pdf file and on Facebook.

The review and the UPR Outcome Report adoption were both webcast live on UN Web TV at the times stated above - the webcast archive of the review is available here, and the webcast of the adoption is available here.

The government delegation was led by Andrew Little, Minister of Justice - his opening statement is available here. The troika for New Zealand (the three states that will assist the Working Group on the UPR) comprises Brazil, Slovakia and Saudi Arabia - the list of troikas for the other other states under review is available here. The speaking order of the states that commented and made recommendations during New Zealand's review is available here.

Documents for New Zealand's review

New Zealand's third UPR was based on the recommendations in the Outcome Report (A/HRC/26/3) of its second UPR in 2014, as well as its response to the recommendations (A/HRC/26/3/Add.1), and information in the documents specific to this review:

• the government's national report (A/HRC/WG.6/32/NZL/1, 13 November 2018) and the Annex with information on Tokelau (A/HRC/WG.6/32/NZL/1/Annex/New
  Zealand);
• the OHCHR compilation of UN human rights information on New Zealand (A/HRC/WG.6/32/NZL/2, 13 November 2018); and
• the OHCHR summary of stakeholders’ submissions on New Zealand (A/HRC/WG.6/32/NZL/3, 16 November 2018) - this includes key points from reports of fifteen NGOs based in Aotearoa, such as the Independent Monitoring Mechanism regarding the Implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand, and from seventeen joint submissions by national NGOs, such as Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa et al (supported by Peace Movement Aotearoa), the Human Rights Foundation et al (including Peace Movement Aotearoa) - cover page and submission - and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions / Te Kauae Kaimahi. All of the NGO and other stakeholders' submissions are available here.

Advance questions for the review were submitted by Britain, Germany and Portugal (on behalf of the Group of Friends on National Mechanisms for Implementation, Reporting and Follow-up); Belarus; and Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Spain and Belgium.

Media coverage

• Maori law academic applauds Justice Minister’s admission, Te Karere, 22 January 2019
• NZ told to improve human rights of LGBTQI people, RNZ, 22 January 2019
• Maori in prison: Justice campaigner pushes for target strategy, RNZ, 22 January 2019
• Andrew Little to UN: New Zealand is failing women and our justice system is broken, Stuff, 22 January 2019
• 'Work to do' on human rights, violence in NZ - Little, RNZ, 22 January 2019
• UN digs in on NZ human rights, Waatea News, 21 January 2019
• NZ human rights to come under scrutiny from UN, RNZ, 19 January 2019
• UN to scrutinise NZ's human rights record, NZ Herald, 18 January 2019
• Andrew Little to lead delegation to UN Human Rights Review, Minister of Justice, 17 January 2019
• New Zealand’s human rights record to be reviewed by Universal Periodic Review, OHCHR, 16 January 2019
• Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Working Group to hold thirty-second session in Geneva from 21 January to 1 February 2019: Working Group to Review the Human Rights Records in 14 States, OHCHR, 16 January 2019

Where you can get more information about the UPR process

Information about the UPR process is available here.