Human Rights Commission
Media Release
16 March 2007

Special measures valid: Chief Commissioner

Special measures or affirmative action programmes remain a valid tool for policy makers intent on reducing the impact of discrimination, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said today.

She was speaking in Wellington at the launch of a book that examines the role in New Zealand of special measures.

The book “Special Measures to Reduce Ethnic Disadvantage in New Zealand” by Paul Callister, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies has been published by the Institute with support from the Human Rights Commission.

At the launch Ms Noonan released a leaflet, Guidelines on Measures to Ensure Equality, for private and public sector organisations seeking to put in place policies to reduce ethnic disadvantage.

The guidelines from the Human Rights Commission will help decision-makers develop special measures that are transparent and effective. She hoped policy makers would find the guidelines assisted in determining the necessity, worth and duration of special measures.

Ms Noonan said, “What we learn from this book is that special measures remain an important policy tool. Properly used, such programmes can make a major contribution to reducing the effects of discrimination”.

The validity of affirmative action or special measures or race-based funding became hotly debated following a speech by the then National Party leader Don Brash in Orewa in 2004. Subsequently the State Services Commission looked at Government policies in the process known as the Mallard review.

The book looks at the history of special measures in New Zealand and reflects on the circumstances when such measures are likely to be effective as well as politically acceptable.

The Human Rights Act 1993 specifically upholds special measures. It states that special measures directed to a particular ethnic group are not discriminatory when applied to “Those persons or groups that need or may reasonably be supposed to need assistance or advancement in order to achieve an equal place with other members of the community”.

Ms Noonan said that special measures must always be accompanied by a strong proviso. She said, “A special measure that lasts too long is a warning sign for policy makers that serious inequality persists in society”.

She added that it was incumbent upon Government to also target inequality through universal measures rather than simply rely on special measures.

The launch of the book and the special measures guidelines is one of a series of activities by the Human Rights Commission leading up to Race Relations Day on 21 March. For a list of activities associated with Race Relations Day see: http://www.hrc.co.nz/home/hrc/introduction/racerelationsday/upcominglaunches.php

The special measures guidelines can be downloaded from www.hrc.co.nz

ENDS

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