A group led by a Whangarei man that is taking the Government to the International Criminal Court, alleging its policy on screening for Down syndrome is akin to genocide and a crime against humanity, is still waiting to see if the claim will be heard by the court.
In Julya group of 37 parents and siblings of children with Down syndrome and anti-abortion group Right to Life New Zealand lodged a complaint with the court in The Hague against the Government's antenatal screening programme.
Group spokesman and Whangarei engineer Mike Sullivan said the complaint was laid under the Rome Statute. The group was still waiting to see if the court would hear its claim, but he was hopeful it would.
Meanwhile, Mr Sullivan said, the group was meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Health today to discuss some of its concerns.
He said the group was also seeking to meet the New Zealand Human Rights Commissioner over the policy.
In its claim to the court the group said the policy breached the court's articles that deal with genocide and crimes against humanity.
Mr Sullivan said the policy breached the articles by imposing measures intended to prevent births and by extermination.
The court had been asked to investigate and intervene in the ministry's antenatal screening programme, alleging it persecuted people with Down syndrome through the prevention of their births.
Mr Sullivan said the policy was akin to social engineering and prevented around 75 per cent of births of people with Down syndrome in New Zealand.
The Ministry of Health denied the group's claims, saying antenatal screening for Down syndrome in some form had been available in New Zealand since 1968.
