Key UC Contact
What We Did
In 2014, with a group of enthusiastic LLB students, we coordinated a submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the human rights impacts of the Canterbruy earthquakes. The human rights challenges in post-quake Canterbury highlighted major shortcomings with New Zealand’s human rights framework. In particular, the framework is currently not strong enough to fully protect economic and social rights such as the right to adequate housing. In addition, one of the key problems with the earthquake response in Canterbury was that it was not a human rights based approach.
Who Was Involved
Undergraduate LLB students + 26 local and national NGOs who supported the original submission.
Why It Matters
Even in 2021, the human rights impacts of the Canterbury earthquakes continue to be felt, especially in the housing context. The submission to the United Nations helped to draw international attention to the shortcomings of the Government response, and the Human Rights Council made three recommendations to the New Zealand Government on how to better respond to the human rights effects of the earthquakes. Advocacy continues to strengthen New Zealand’s legal framework for the protection and promotion of human rights and ensure that a human rights based approach is taken in future disasters.
Learn More
Natalie Baird “Housing in Post-Quake Canterbury: Human Rights Fault Lines” (2017) 15 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 195; Natalie Baird “Disasters, Human Rights and Vulnerability: Reflections from the Experiences of Older Persons in Post-Quake Canterbury” (2019) 2 Yearbook of International Disaster Law 314.
