People seeking mediation through the Human Rights Commission are facing delays because of an "unprecedented" number of complaints and inquiries.
Before the pandemic, there was rarely a backlog at the Human Rights Commission, RNZ has been told. Photo: 123RF
Figures provided to RNZ under the Official Information Act (OIA) show a provisional 9932 complaints and enquiries were made in the 2021/22 financial year - thousands more than any other year stretching back to 2015/16.
It was also more than double the number received in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 4861 complaints and inquiries in 2020/21 was also the lowest figure since at least 2015.
The commission's Human Rights Information and Support Services (HRISS) team, which provided the OIA response, said the backlog was caused by the "unprecedented increase in inquiries and complaints, particularly complaints about vaccinations and mask exemptions in the second half of 2021".
Complaints and inquiries rose from 801 in September to 1314 in October, before peaking at 1850 in December and then dropping to 662 in January.
"Prior to the onset of the Covid pandemic in January 2020, we rarely had a backlog of matters waiting to be allocated to mediators," the response said.
While Covid-19 was behind the increase in complaints, it also contributed to the delay including staff sickness and difficulties in recruiting and training new staff in a pandemic, HRISS said.
There was also the factor of "many" complainants opting to wait to attend mediation in person, or by other means, rather than on Zoom when online mediation was the only option.
Despite the delays, the commission had tried to continue providing "a timely service for more timely matters, such as complaints of alleged sexual harassment".
Only about one in 10 complaints "of alleged unlawful discrimination" end up in mediation, with the commission generally offering other dispute resolution services first.
The vast majority of the 9932 complaints and inquiries in 2021/22 were in relation to "other human rights matters" and were dealt with by HRISS.
There have been 44 mediation meetings for the 1782 complaints and inquiries alleging unlawful discrimination with matters not being progressed "as quickly as we would generally expect", HRISS said.
'Clogging up the system'
It currently took about six to eight weeks from when a complaint was first received and beginning "substantive dispute resolution", HRISS said.
However, RNZ has spoken with one person who complained about something other than Covid-19 in the past year and correspondence shows it took the commission almost five months to respond.
Mediation then happened three months later.
The person, who RNZ agreed not to name, found the "lengthy" process "disappointing" and said it meant they went into mediation with low expectations.
They were concerned many of the Covid-related complaints "clogging up the system" could have been duplicates and wanted to know if cases could be handled more efficiently.
Sue Moroney Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Community Law Centres chief executive Sue Moroney said the pandemic had presented human rights challenges "we hadn't had before" that came with the "extra complexity" of not having legal precedents.
On top of this, she highlighted, people were "experiencing what they felt was a challenge to their human rights".
"It was difficult for people to work out where the right avenue for complaint might be," Moroney said. "I think that the volume shows the real uncertainty for everyone around what human rights means in this type of setting."
Referring to the delays from people wanting to do mediation in person, she said this was not a surprise because it was a process "very personal to people".
RNZ has approached the Human Rights Commission for comment.