10 Dec 2013

Commission sees psychological damage in Canterbury

9:42 pm on 10 December 2013

The Human Rights Commission says it is seeing high levels of psychological harm caused by the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes.

The commission released a report on Tuesday, Monitoring Human Rights in the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, and makes 33 recommendations to improve access to adequate housing, health services and help business make a positive contribution to human rights.

Chief Commissioner David Rutherford says the report shows that people and their human rights need to be put at the heart of the recovery in Canterbury.

He says the Canterbury earthquakes represent one of New Zealand's greatest contemporary human rights challenges.

Mr Rutherford says while progress has been made, many residents affected by the earthquakes continue to experience deteriorating standards of living and quality of life that go beyond the immediate effects of the disaster.

Advocates complain to OECD

Two groups advocating for Cantabrians still struggling after the 2011 earthquakes have lodged a formal complaint with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development about human rights violations they say the Government has committed.

WeCan and CanCERN say they have received 100 complaints from the community that they will present to the OECD.

The groups say the Government is now obliged to investigate these alleged violations and it has acknowledged the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment will do that.

The groups recently conducted a door-knock of 774 homes in the Southshore and South Brighton communities and found about 11% of households are still living in broken housing and are suffering poor health and stress dealing with insurance companies.