Ia Tangata

A review of the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics

Status: Active

Issues Paper

Ia Tangata – A review of the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people who have an innate variation of sex characteristics: Issues Paper (NZLC IP53, 2024)

Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission published an Issues Paper for the review in June 2024. The Issues Paper provided some background and context to the review and identified and explored potential options for reform.  

The topics discussed in the Issues Paper include:

  • the types of discrimination that can be experienced by people who are transgender or non-binary or who have an innate variation of sex characteristics;
  • whether the prohibited grounds of discrimination in section 21 of the Human Rights Act should be amended;
  • options for how new prohibited grounds of discrimination could be framed;
  • protections in the Human Rights Act relating to areas of life such as: employment; goods, services, facilities and places; land, housing and accommodation; and education;
  • protections in the Human Rights Act that apply to government;
  • how the exceptions in the Human Rights Act that currently apply to the ground of sex should be worded in the light of any new prohibited grounds of discrimination, and whether any new exceptions are desirable; and
  • the perspectives and concerns of Māori.

A summary of the Issues Paper is also available.

The Commission invited submissions on 80 consultation questions posed in the Issues Paper. The submission period closed on 5 September 2024.