Rights Aotearoa Newsletter #6
Week Ending 1 November 2025
This week has been one of the most significant in Rights Aotearoa's advocacy for children's and young people's rights. From the erasure of rainbow students in the national curriculum to the alleged torture of infants at Gloriavale, and a misguided attempt to ban young people from social media, we've confronted multiple threats to the fundamental rights of rangatahi across Aotearoa.
This newsletter focuses on the rights of children and young people—because they are rights-holders, not problems to be managed, and because their human rights are not negotiable.
Rainbow Students Erased from National Curriculum
On 28 October, the Ministry of Education released a draft Health and Physical Education curriculum that completely erases references to diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and intersex variations. Following a New Zealand First coalition agreement that removed the Ministry's Relationships and Sexuality Education guidelines, schools are now left with no guidance whatsoever on teaching about LGBTTQIA+ identities.
This is not curriculum simplification. It is systematic erasure that renders approximately 20 percent of New Zealand students invisible in their own education—and it breaches New Zealand's domestic and international human rights obligations.
The draft curriculum violates:
- Section 21 of the Human Rights Act 1993 (prohibition of discrimination in education)
- Section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (freedom from discrimination)
- Section 127 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (requirement for emotionally safe environments)
- Articles 2 and 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- The Yogyakarta Principles on sexual orientation and gender identity
Research consistently shows that LGBTTQIA+ students face significantly higher rates of bullying, mental distress, and suicide ideation. Inclusive curriculum content is a proven protective factor that reduces harm and saves lives. At a time when this Government has prioritised youth mental health, removing evidence-based protective factors for one of the most vulnerable student populations is both counterproductive and dangerous.
We've Written to the Minister of Education
Rights Aotearoa has written directly to Hon. Erica Stanford, Minister of Education, outlining the specific legal breaches and calling for immediate action to restore comprehensive RSE guidance that explicitly addresses sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex variations.
Read our letter to Minister Stanford →
While we recognise the political complexities the Minister faces in balancing coalition commitments, we've made clear that coalition agreements cannot lawfully override New Zealand's binding human rights obligations. The education system must serve all students—including the twenty percent who identify as rainbow.
We're Calling on the Human Rights Commission to Act
We've also written to Chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow, urging the Commission to issue a public statement condemning this erasure. The Commission has a statutory mandate to advocate for human rights protection, promote non-discrimination, and monitor New Zealand's compliance with international human rights instruments.
Read our letter to Commissioner Rainbow →
A public statement from the Commission would provide moral and legal clarity, strengthen the hand of educators and advocates making submissions, and signal to rainbow young people that their rights matter and that institutions are watching. The consultation period closes on 24 April 2026—but the longer this discriminatory draft remains unchallenged, the more it becomes normalised as acceptable policy.
Keep up the pressure: The curriculum is open for consultation until 24 April 2026. Rights Aotearoa will be making a comprehensive submission and coordinating with education stakeholders, rainbow organisations, and affected communities. If you want to make a submission, watch this space for resources and guidance.
Social Media Age Ban: Wrong Approach to Online Safety
Last week, we called on the Government to reject the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill, which would ban under-16s from social media platforms. The Bill takes precisely the wrong approach to online safety by restricting young people's rights rather than regulating the platforms themselves.
Why this Bill is harmful:
It breaches young people's rights. The Bill violates section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, which guarantees freedom of expression. It restricts children's access to information and their ability to participate in digital civic life without demonstrating that these restrictions are necessary or proportionate.
It creates dangerous surveillance infrastructure. The Bill will require invasive age verification systems that threaten everyone's privacy, not just young people's. Rights Aotearoa opposes online digital ID and mandatory age verification. These systems create surveillance infrastructure that puts all New Zealanders' privacy at risk.
It will disproportionately harm rainbow youth. For many LGBTTQIA+ young people, social media provides crucial support networks they can't access elsewhere—especially in rural areas or unsupportive home environments. This ban could isolate the most vulnerable young people at the time they need connection most.
The right approach: If the Government is serious about online safety, it should regulate the platforms—their algorithms, their data practices, their content moderation, and their advertising models. Making platforms safer protects everyone. Banning young people just pushes them towards less safe corners of the internet.
Young people have rights too. This Bill treats them as problems to be managed rather than rights-holders to be protected.
Alleged Torture of Children at Gloriavale Demands Urgent Investigation
Following revelations in the New Zealand Herald that parents at Gloriavale were systematically taught to cover the mouths and noses of infants to suppress crying, Rights Aotearoa has called for an urgent investigation into what we believe constitutes torture under international law.
Read our letter to Minister Upston →
Why this practice constitutes torture:
The deliberate obstruction of a child's airways to suppress crying meets the definition of torture under Article 1 of the UN Convention Against Torture. The international community has definitively classified deliberate interference with breathing as torture—waterboarding is recognised universally as torture precisely because it obstructs airways to produce the physiological experience of drowning, creating overwhelming panic and terror.
If covering the airways of adult detainees constitutes torture, then systematically covering the mouths and noses of infants and children—who cannot comprehend what is happening, cannot consent, and have no capacity to understand when the suffering will end—is unquestionably torture of the most severe kind.
New Zealand's mandatory obligations:
Under the UN Convention Against Torture, New Zealand must "proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed." The Herald's reporting, corroborated by testimony before the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care, provides more than reasonable grounds.
We've requested that Minister Upston:
- Immediately direct Police to open a formal criminal investigation
- Ensure Oranga Tamariki conducts urgent safety assessments of all children at Gloriavale
- Commission an independent review into whether current frameworks adequately detect and prevent torture in isolated religious communities
- Report publicly on findings and steps taken to ensure compliance with international human rights law
The Crown cannot be a passive observer where torture of children is credibly alleged. New Zealand's human rights obligations are not discretionary.
A Week of Defending Children's Rights
This week has demonstrated why independent human rights advocacy is essential. Whether it's rainbow students being erased from the curriculum, young people being banned from digital spaces, or infants being subjected to torture, children's rights are under sustained attack—and too often, they have no voice in decisions that affect them.
Rights Aotearoa exists to be that voice. We ground our advocacy in law, evidence, and principle—not politics, ideology, or convenience. We will continue to speak truth to power, to hold government accountable to its human rights obligations, and to ensure that every child and young person in Aotearoa is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
The rights of children are human rights. They are not negotiable. They are not political. They are universal, inalienable, and worth fighting for.
Share This Newsletter
If you found this newsletter valuable, please share it with others who care about human rights in Aotearoa. Forward this email, post it on social media, or simply talk about these issues with friends, whānau, and colleagues.
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The more people who understand what's at stake, the stronger our collective voice becomes.
Support Our Work
Rights Aotearoa is not a registered charity, but we operate through the Gift Collective, which allows us to receive tax-deductible donations. Our work is only possible because of supporters like you.
If you value independent human rights advocacy in Aotearoa, please consider making a donation at www.rightsaotearoa.nz/donate.
Every contribution—no matter the size—helps us continue this essential mahi.
Ngā mihi nui,
Paul Thistoll
Chief Executive
Rights Aotearoa
📧 paul@rightsaotearoa.nz
🌐 www.rightsaotearoa.nz
Rights Aotearoa is New Zealand's leading non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting and defending universal human rights with a focus on transgender, non-binary, and intersex rights.
