This report is the result of a key informant study undertaken in New Zealand by the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School (USA). Each year the School's Crowley Program in International Human Rights conducts an overseas Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission involving second year law students and led by Law Professors. The 2008 mission examined violence against women in New Zealand in light of New Zealand's international human rights commitments. While in New Zealand, the delegation met with a range of informants and conducted approximately 165 interviews. Those interviewed included a range of academics, leaders of community agencies, lawyers, judges, legislators, government officials, and ordinary women and men from Aotearoa /New Zealand. Part I of the report sets out the normative framework on domestic violence, both at the international and national level, and explains the relevant norms that govern the relationship between Māori and the Crown. Part II begins with a background discussion regarding the level of domestic violence in New Zealand. It then proceeds to detail the problems with the domestic law and implementing regulations addressing domestic violence "both with the law as written and problems with the law and regulations as implemented or enforced, the "implementation gaps." Part II presents the delegation's findings with respect to a range of problems women face when they are victims (and/or survivors) of domestic violence. Similarly, Part II documents the problems activists and workers face when they address these situations. Some of these problems relate to the existing law or government policy whereas others have to do with the way the law and policy has been implemented - or not implemented. Finally, Part III focuses specifically on domestic violence in Māori communities. While many of the problems presented in Part II also apply to Māori, this Part discusses some issues that affect Māori in particular. In conclusion, the report acknowledges the deliberate efforts that New Zealand has made to combat domestic violence, identifies a number of weaknesses with New Zealand's domestic law and policies to address domestic violence and offers recommendations for how such problems might be addressed. The specific concluding recommendations relate to: Government funding and contracting of NGO service providers; services in rural areas; relations between the police and Māori communities; support and funding for Māori programmes; and the Government's obligation to consult with Māori about strategies, initiatives or programs to address domestic violence in Māori communities at an early stage.

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