Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2013: New Zealand

摘要

New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy. Citizens choose their representatives in free and fair multi-party elections, most recently held in 2011, when the National Party won 59 parliamentary seats and formed a minority coalition government with John Key re-elected as prime minister. Authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Security forces did not commit human rights abuses. The principal human rights problems included disproportionate societal problems for indigenous persons and some societal discrimination against ethnic minority individuals. Domestic violence and child abuse also were problems. The government has effective mechanisms for prosecuting officials who commit human rights abuses, but there were no reports of such abuses during the year.