Status: Not yet commenced
Project overview
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission has been asked to undertake a review of legal responses to hate. We have been asked to consider how the law should respond to hate-motivated offending (sometimes called hate crime) and to speech that expresses hostility towards or contempt for people who share a common characteristic (sometimes called hate speech).
The Minister responsible for the Law Commission referred this project to the Commission on 18 November 2022 as part of a broader reference that also asks the Commission to review the protections in the Human Rights Act for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics. Based on its current resources, the Commission has decided it will be most efficient to examine the legal issues involved in this reference in two phases.
In phase one (which the Commission commenced on 16 January 2023) the Commission is reviewing protections in the Human Rights Act for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics. This phase one project is not examining hate speech or hate crime. If you would like to know more about this project, you can visit the "Ia Tangata” project webpage.
In phase two, the Commission will examine legal responses to hate (including hate speech and hate crime). The start date for phase two will depend on resources becoming available.
Because this phase two project has not begun, no project team has been assigned.
You can subscribe for updates on this phase two project, including the start date once it has been settled.