DPO Coalition
Balance Aotearoa - we walk with you
About Us
We are a member of New Zealand's Disabled Person's Organisation Coalition.
About the DPO Coalition
Vision, role and mandate
The DPO Coalition’s vision is: “Full achievement of Disability Rights equality in Aotearoa New Zealand”.
The DPO Coalition’s primary role is to increase the collective impact of DPOs to achieve Disability Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Disability Convention or UNCRPD) and associated treaties and documents.
The DPO Coalition’s role is mandated by the UNCRPD, which New Zealand ratified in 2008. Specifically, Article 4(3) promotes the active involvement by government agencies of representative organisations of disabled people (referred to as Disabled People’s Organisations or DPOs), which are governed by disabled people.
Article 33 promotes the Government’s role in implementing the UNCRPD, its requirement to recognise an independent monitoring framework i.e., the Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM), and the role of disabled people and their representative organisations in the monitoring process.
Upholding a civil society role as representative organisations, the DPO Coalition plays an active and influential role within the IMM and through ‘disabled people-led’ monitoring work.
General Comment No.7 on the participation of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organisations, in the implementation and monitoring of the UNCRPD, also offers clarification to States Parties on their obligations under Articles 4(3) and 33(3) and their implementation. The obligations of States Parties also include the financial resourcing of DPOs.
The Government is obliged to consult with DPOs. Specifically, the UNCRPD states: “In the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations”.