Victims of tokenism and hypocrisy : children in New Zealand residential institutions Ludbrook, Robert
Material type:
- 1173-5252
Human Rights Law and Practice 5(2) October 1999 : 91-117
This article examines the New Zealand Government's response to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) (1989), and looks at how the Department of Social Welfare has conducted itself in terms of how it provides for children in residential care, noting a consistent failure since New Zealand ratified UNCROC. Presented in two parts, part 1 of the report critically examines processes before and after the ratification of UNCROC, and argues that the New Zealand Government has paid lip service to UNCROC and its principles. New Zealand's ratification of UNCROC meant a commitment to examine its laws, policies, and practice to ensure compatibility with UNCROC. It was also to provide an overarching policy for children along with a plan of action. The author concludes that the New Zealand Government has failed in its baseline obligations. Part 2 of the report argues that, despite checks and safeguards put in place since 1986 to improve children's rights in residential care, a culture of defensiveness and evasion has crept in which has inhibited opportunities for scrutiny by those people permitted to monitor compliance with regulatory standards and also by the general public.
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