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Children’s Commissioner Act 2022

Children’s Commissioner - Commissioner’s functions, duties, and powers

21: Function relating to promoting and advancing rights of children and young people

You could also call this:

"Helping to make sure children and young people are treated fairly and have their rights respected."

Illustration for Children’s Commissioner Act 2022

The Commissioner has a job to promote and advance the rights of children and young people. You can think of the Commissioner like a helper who makes sure children and young people are treated fairly. The Commissioner does this by raising awareness and understanding of children's and young people's rights, including the rights set out in the Children's Convention.

The Commissioner also monitors how the government applies the Children's Convention and makes reports to the United Nations. This means the Commissioner checks if the government is doing what it should to protect children's rights and tells the United Nations about it.

The Commissioner raises awareness and understanding of children's rights and the Children's Convention, and advocates for the government to apply it properly, you can learn more about the Children's Convention and how it is applied by visiting the legislation website.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS733205.

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Part 2Children’s Commissioner
Commissioner’s functions, duties, and powers

21Function relating to promoting and advancing rights of children and young people

  1. A function of the Commissioner is to promote and advance the rights of children and young people by—

  2. raising awareness and understanding of children’s and young people’s rights, including the rights set out in the Children’s Convention, and advocating for the advancement of the application of the Children’s Convention by the public:
    1. monitoring the application of the Children’s Convention by departments and other instruments of the Crown and making reports to the United Nations:
      1. raising awareness and understanding of children’s rights and the Children’s Convention and advocating for the advancement of the application of the Children’s Convention, including (without limitation) by departments and other instruments of the Crown.

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        Notes
        • Section 21: amended, on , by section 24 of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 34).