Let’s take what the government has said it will do and design an online tool to help us monitor what they actually do and when they do it. That is the approach being taken by the Human Rights Commission to the 2015 Human Rights National Plan of Action (NPA).

Instead of printing a report with a couple of hundred pages of text and bullet points, the HRC has developed an agile new interactive tool that allows for the actions and commitments to be monitored and regularly updated. All New Zealanders will have the chance to see how our country is progressing on implementing human rights, such as the rights of children or the right to housing.

“Accountability through transparency is fundamental to human rights”(Dr Jackie Blue)

Human Rights Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue points out that New Zealand has “an excellent human rights reputation and the NPA is a real way we can safeguard, monitor and improve that reputation… Evidence and monitoring are crucial steps in realising our human rights”. The tool was launched on 30th June on the Human Rights Commission website.