ACYA Welcomes Recommendations on Child Poverty

A coalition working for implementation of New Zealand’s legal commitments to children has welcomed recommendations from an expert group on child poverty.

“New Zealand agreed to ensure ‘progressive realisation’ of the right of all children to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing when ratifying human rights treaties in 1978 and 1993,” said Ced Simpson, chair of Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa (ACYA). “But instead of meeting our moral and legal commitments, we’ve gone backwards since the 1980s.”
ACYA was commenting on the release today of a series of recommendations from an expert group established by the Children’s Commissioner.

“We urge everyone to give serious consideration to the recommendations, bearing in mind the known impact child poverty has on health, education and other human rights, and that our country has pledged to take ‘all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures…to the maximum extent of available resources’ to tackle it,” Mr Simpson said.

In particular, ACYA welcomed the call for a system of agreed indicators, measures, targets and reporting on child poverty.

“Such mechanisms to track realisation of the basic human rights of our youngest and most vulnerable members of society – are the first step to meeting our legal obligations, and should have been taken twenty years ago.”

The expert group is inviting public response before finalising its recommendations to government in December

ENDS

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