An Anchor in the Social World
The strongest commitment a Government can make to protect the Human Rights of its citizens is to embed them in a constitution, and create statutory procedures to enforce the international standards. New Zealand has a good record of approving of and compliance with its international obligations.
However, Human Rights standards are not reflected in a single entrenched constitutional instrument here but simply remain part of the ordinary statutory scheme and the common law. Our Parliament is able to disregard them (and it has) thereby making them much less secure than they should be.
They are provided for instead, in a range of different pieces of legislation and through the common law. Although the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BoRA) affirms its commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it’s not supreme law. And despite arguments that it has attained a ‘constitutional status’, because of the nature of the rights that it protects, the Bill of Rights Act can still be overridden by Parliament.
As a country we have ratified most of the major Treaties with few reservations but then again, not all of the international Human Rights standards provided for in those Treaties have been incorporated into domestic legislation.
It seems to me that a Government’s commitment to its international Human Rights obligations is also reflected in how it develops policy yet the relationship between those obligations and the development of economic and social policy around them still tends to be poorly interpreted here.
There’s been a demonstration of SOME commitment to considering further constitutional protection of Human Rights and there has also been strengthened engagement in the Treaty body reporting process with growing input from civil society.
But again, and you’ll forgive my if-ing and but-ing, despite these small steps, the relationship between international Human Rights standards and what happens in practice at the national level is again, still not widely understood either. Understanding then practical interpretation AND action is required.
A Role for Civil Society
Civil society organisations play a critical role as watchdogs of Human Rights. Campaigns by civil society organisations e.g. the initiatives that led to the banning of land mines have played a large part in the evolution and development of international human rights law in recent decades.
In New Zealand, civil society organisations contribute to, and monitor compliance with, international conventions by participating in the preparation of New Zealand’s periodic reports to the UN committees. Such organisations may also provide independent commentaries on the country reports and monitor the implementation of the UN Committees’ conclusions.
Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated.
Civil Society’s Embrace
It commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, personalities and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. They’re often populated by organisations such as registered charities, development non-governmental, women’s, faith-based, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions, community and advocacy groups.
Perhaps I might venture to strongly suggest that the impact of international Human Rights in New Zealand is directly related to the vitality of we active citizens and our commitment to strengthening respect for them. Commitment driven by ordinary, everyday people.
I believe in people power. It should never be underestimated although it often is. We are all, at this time, by our support for Kate, her anchor in the social world. And as Mandiba once said, “Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.”
RELATED POSTS
1. Rights of Passage 2. Katherine 3. Ships in the Night 4. Alone Alone All All Alone 5. Systems that take the Kate 6. Model Citizen: A Piece of Kate 7. A Twist of Kate: The Castaway 8. Throwing Out the Lifelines 9. An Anchor in the Social World
