Human Rights and Health in New Zealand

Running Health: Human Rights Issues 0
Human
Rights
Issues
September 16
2019

Human Rights Issues 1
Human Rights and Health in New Zealand
In every country freedom, dignity, values and safety of every individual from his/her birth to
until death is defended by some rights and they are entitled as Human Rights. These are the set
of principles connected and associated with the equality and fairness (Reid, Cormack, and Paine,
2018). There are various reasons or issues due to which these human rights are violated by any
person or by any group which exploits the rights of another individual. Sometimes human rights
are misused in the country for achieving the desires and needs. In New Zealand to protect people
from discrimination Human Rights Acts are proposed. In New Zealand, two laws are proposed
New Zealand Rights Act 1993 and New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (O'Donnell, and Talbot-
Jones, 2018). In New Zealand human rights issues such as domestic violence, health disparities
are observed on a wide scale. New Zealand is a developed nation and the statistics which were
obtained are creating impact on the value and rapport of the nation amongst the world. In New
Zealand the Convention on the Rights of the Child was imposed by the General Assembly
Resolution. The government of New Zealand ratified the convention of CRC on 6th April 1993,
another convention on the Rights of person with disability which was the first convention
introduced in 21st Century (Joshi, Maloy, and Peterson, 2019). It was signed by the country on
30th March 2007 and ratified on 26th September 2008. This convention helps the people who are
disabled for resolving their issues, to raise their voice as well as for legitimacy. This convention
ensures equal treatment under the law in which health services, education, and employment are
included (Lynch, 2018).
In New Zealand for the protection of children some human rights are introduced in which
Children’s Commissioner Act 2003 and Children Young Persons and Their Family Act 1989
(CYPFA), the Care of Children Act 2004, the Education Act 1989, the New Zealand Bill of
Rights Act 1990, the Privacy Act 1993, etc. are included. These rights are secured with the help
of different pieces of legislation (Magallanes, 2018). New Zealand ratified its convention entitled
as Convention on the Right of Child on 6th April 1993. An individual is considered as minor or
child till he/she crosses the age of 18 years. Basically, there are two rights are categorized for the
minors in which one type of human right is as similar as Human right for the adult while the
other one is proposed for the distinct age group (Keddell, 2018). In New Zealand due to less
income from the average i.e. 60% is responsible for the suffering of 20% children from poverty.

Human Rights Issues 2
According to the study of UNICEF nearly 3500 children approximately age 15 years die every
year because of physical abuse and negligence. From other developed nations the rate of child
abuse is highest in New Zealand, as compared to Norway the death rate from child abuse is
approximately 4 to 6 times more in New Zealand. According to study which was conducted by
the Prostitution Law Review Committee (PLRC) approximately 200 minors in New Zealand are
forced into prostitution every day (Gill, 2019). There are approximately more than 500 girls who
are working in the prostitution in the Auckland registered in the records of New Zealand police
department. For breaking this trafficking the police department face challenges because the
victims are controlled by the pimps they refused to give any statement which leads to the legal
complications (Sinclair, 2019). The government of New Zealand is providing the finance to
many Non-Governmental Organizations for minimizing these trafficking and providing aid
including housing schemes, helping girls to leave the prostitution and for the reintegrating into
society. In New Zealand at present the child trafficking is most prominent issue which is
registered under the child commercial exploitation prostitution. The children of New Zealand are
losing their autonomy and freedom by becoming the victim of trafficking system. In another
study conducted by the New Zealand Ministry of Justice the children from the country are
abducted in very large number and taken abroad every year (Chapron, Epstein, and López-Bao,
2019). It is found that the 23.5% children of 17 years register the complaints regarding their
exploitation in which 10% of the cases are neglected while 3% of them are considered for the
care. The boys in New Zealand are most affected in the exploitation. In the records of UNICEF
New Zealand is have the highest rate of child abuse as well as teen suicide in the developed
world (Arend, 2019). In the country there are several rights are introduced for the welfare of
children and to minimize their exploitation. A large number of children are suffering from
poverty due to which they are not able to fulfill their basic need and maintain the quality of their
health (Saunders, 2019). According to the ranking declared by the OECD New Zealand is rated
poorly for the health and safety of children. From 2004 the crimes against the children are rising
rapidly in the country due to which the rate of maltreatment death of child is also increased with
high rate in the country. In another study conducted in 2009 in which it was observed that around
2855 children were physically abused, 1126 were abused sexually and 15,615 children were
abused emotional or neglect as a result 36 children under the age of 15 years were died
(McGregor, and Davies, 2019). When the mental health services were proposed in the country