Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper would insert a new Part 10A into the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) amending section 21(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1993. The amendment to section 21(1)(a) clarifies that sex discrimination includes gender identity. This is in accordance with the opinion of the Acting Solicitor-General dated 2 August 2006 and the National report to the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group Universal Periodic Review presented by the Minister of Justice on 27 January 2014 that stated in paragraph 66: “The Government's view is that discrimination on the grounds of gender identity is already prohibited under the Human Rights Act as sex discrimination.”