UN 'deeply concerned' by New Zealand's child poverty

  • 08/10/2016
A hungry child (file)
A hungry child (file)

The United Nations has slammed New Zealand's high and persistent levels of child poverty in a damning new report.

It has also called on the Government to consider a different name for its new agency, the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, to avoid "stigmatisation".

"The committee is deeply concerned about the enduring high prevalence of poverty among children," The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's report says.

Of particular concern was "the effect of deprivation on children's right to an adequate standard of living and access to adequate housing, with its negative impact on health, survival and development, and education".

UNICEF believes 300,000 children in New Zealand live below the poverty line, and the problem is getting worse.

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The UN Committee has made dozens of recommendations for reform, including:

The report backs up calls from Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft, who called on the Government to set a target of cutting child poverty rates by 10 percent by the end of 2017 - something Prime Minister John Key has refused to do.

"The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has today said it is seriously concerned about child poverty in New Zealand. It has called for us to establish a definition of poverty so progress to reducing it can be measured," says Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei.

"But John Key still refuses to measure child poverty - and that appears to be because he doesn't want to be judged on his failures. None of us want to live in a country where child poverty is considered normal. But John Key continues to say it's too hard to measure - and that's simply a failure of leadership."

The UN report was backed up by Jacinda Ardern, Labour's spokesperson for children.

"There is a huge amount of consensus in Parliament around the need to take much more decisive action on child poverty," she said.

"Though sadly that consensus just hasn't extended to the Government."

Newshub.