IHC discrimination claim in court

A long-running legal fight — which claims the Government has discriminated against disabled children by denying them their educational rights — has reached court.

A statement of claim lodged with the Human Rights Review Tribunal by IHC yesterday alleges the Government has discriminated against disabled children and breached their human rights by failing to provide them with the same state education as their peers.

And that’s left them less educated, socially excluded, emotionally distressed and poorer, IHC says.

In 2008 IHC first lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, claiming while children with disabilities had the lawful right to attend their local state school, they were being denied it because schools lacked the resources to support them.

IHC wants the tribunal to declare the Ministry of Education has breached disabled students’ rights and to order it to stop doing so. Rather than seeking more funding it wants resources to be redistributed fairly.

A 2019 survey found almost one in three children with disabilities was being denied enrolment at their local school.