Questions on children’s rights and the business sector - Children’s Convention from the United Nations
Please inform the Committee about the following:
Questions 7(a), 7(b), 7(c) and 7(d)
- The measures taken to establish and implement regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with human rights, in particular children’s rights;
- The monitoring of child-related essential services provided by private enterprises;
- The consultations with civil society and children before the ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and how the best interests of children were given due consideration;
- The adoption of corporate social responsibility parameters, including child rights due diligence, for corporations and other businesses subject to the jurisdiction of the State party.
Reply to question 7(c)
The consultation process for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the earlier Trans-Pacific Partnership, has been among the most extensive a New Zealand Government has undertaken for a trade negotiation. Wide consultation was undertaken before New Zealand ratified the Agreement, and a broad range of stakeholders provided feedback on a wide range of topics.
Public sessions were held in a number of cities and regional centres across New Zealand. The majority of these public sessions were dedicated to question and answer time, with officials recording feedback to brief Ministers.
Government officials also conducted focused briefings with a range of other stakeholders including civil society, business and industry groups, Māori (including the Federation of Māori Authorities and representatives of the Iwi Leaders’ Forum). Issues pertaining to children were not prominent in the submissions.
Reply to questions 7(a), 7(b) and 7(d)
All businesses operating in New Zealand are subject to New Zealand law, including employment law, human rights law, and commercial law.
Businesses that have a direct impact on children and young people, including those subject to advertising and broadcasting standards are subject to child-specific laws in New Zealand as well as international obligations under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) and certain International Labour Organisation Conventions.
New Zealand is a signatory to the OECD Multi-National Enterprise guidelines. The guidelines are intended to help the private sector grow their business responsibly by promoting human rights and boosting social development around the world.
New Zealand has recently updated its government procurement policy framework to include expectations and requirements regarding human and labour rights. In October 2019, the new Government Procurement Rules (the Rules) came into effect. One of the new Rules requires government contracts to set out the expectation that suppliers and their contractors comply with employment standards and health and safety requirements (including child employment standards). In addition, the Rules include a Government Procurement Charter that sets out the Government’s expectations for agencies’ procurement activities. One of the expectations in the Charter is that agencies engage with businesses with good employment practices, including respecting international standards relating to human and labour rights including for children.
The Supplier Code of Conduct (2019) sets the expectations for suppliers who provide goods and services to the Government. The Supplier Code of Conduct includes an expectation that suppliers adhere to international human rights standards in their workplace and monitor and address these standards within their supply chains. This Code covers all suppliers to government and their subcontractors.
HealthCERT within MOH, regulates healthcare service care providers as required under the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001. This includes providers providing hospital level care such as children’s health services and maternity services (for example, district health boards (DHBs) or private birthing units).
MSD and Oranga Tamariki assess all their contracted providers through the Social Services Accreditation (SSA) who provide accreditation on behalf of six Government agencies (Oranga Tamariki, MOJ, Department of Corrections (Corrections), MSD, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and Ministry of Pacific Peoples). The SSA assesses providers against a set of accreditation standards. The standards:
- are based on a levels framework and vary depending on the type of service a provider delivers
- include standards relating to community wellbeing (paramountcy of the child and young person), cultural competence and client centred services. The community wellbeing standard specifically references the Convention
- include specific care services standards where children in State care are placed with providers. These standards also highlight the requirement to provide services that meet requirements set out in the NCS.
The Children's Act 2014 introduced a workforce restriction, which means it is unlawful to employ a core children’s worker with certain serious criminal offences unless they hold a core worker exemption. People subject to the workforce restriction can apply for a core worker exemption through SSA. This considers a number of key factors including the what the offence was and how long ago it occurred, and steps taken in the time since to show changed behaviour.
