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New Zealand

Human Rights Commission of New Zealand

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Activities

The Human Rights Commission is involved with the Asia Pacific Forum National Human Rights Institutions. It works on building regional awareness on issues involving violations of human rights, which includes trafficking in persons.

The Commission is a national human rights institution, independent of the government and working in partnership with civil society. In addition to more general human rights issues, it has been working to combat trafficking in persons through the following activities:

• Regularly consulting with different government agencies and community groups on trafficking and trafficking-related issues such as the exploitation of children.
• Awareness-raising among the public, health professionals and Police through campaigns and dissemination of information through a range of sources.
• Advocacy and policy-making initiatives

In 1999, the Human Rights Commission set up a ‘safe house’ programme to assist Thai sex workers to escape prostitution in New Zealand. The Mayor of Auckland City and various organizations, including the Department of Immigration, the Police, Prostitutes Collective, Shakti Asian Women’s Centre and the Thai Embassy assisted the Commission.

• Outreach work involved contacting women through ‘pink stickers.’ The Pink Stickers Campaign publicised information about the hotline and safe house, in both Thai and English, on pink stickers. These were placed in hospitals, red-light districts and Police stations. This initiative was undertaken with the Prostitutes Collective, Auckland City Council, Immigration, Police and the Thai Embassy.²
• The Commission helped a number of Thai women bonded to the New Zealand sex industry. In 2001 the Commission assisted a Thai woman to recover money paid to traffickers.
• The work with the Thai sex workers included provision of legal counselling, and assistance; the provision of a safe house / shelter for up to 2 weeks; crisis intervention and direct monetary assistance; a telephone hotline in normal working hours; accepting referrals from Police, hospitals and private persons; organising safe return to country of origin in collaboration with women’s NGO’s in home country.

  The Pink Sticker campaign is no longer in effect and the Minister of Immigration suspended the visa-free status between New Zealand and Thailand, in part because of the abuse of the system by traffickers and those working illegally in New Zealand.

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  1. Click here for a focal point network which lists names of contacts in each Asia Pacific country
  2. Click here for information on the 'Pink Sticker Campaign'

Related pages on this site

• US State Department Releases 2006 Human Rights Report
• New Zealand Rebuffs Child Trafficking, Prostitution Claims in US Report
• Thai Workers Complain of Exploitation in New Zealand

Related external links

• Human Rights Commission of New Zealand