Download This PaperHuman Rights and Social Policy in New Zealand
Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Vol. 12, No. 30, p. 12, 2007
Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper No. 9/2011
31 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2007 Last revised: 5 Jan 2014
Date Written: March 1, 2007
Abstract
This article aims to facilitate debate about the implications for New Zealand social policy making of taking a rights-based approach. It does so by exploring the sources and scope of New Zealand's international human rights obligations, particularly in relation to economic, social and cultural rights. It identifies a range of constraints on social policy making deriving from these obligations and suggests that explicit and systematic attention to these constraints constitutes the essence of a rights-based approach to social policy making. Finally, the article comments on the adequacy of existing processes and structures of New Zealand government for giving effect to a rights-based approach and makes some suggestions for how these might be modified.
Keywords: Socio-economic rights, human rights, law and policy, social policy, New Zealand
JEL Classification: D63, D78, H50, I18, I28, I31, I38, J28, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
