The Human Rights Commissioner told the Prime Minister last year there was a "divisive quality" to the traffic light framework.
Appearing before Parliament's Justice Select Committee on Thursday morning, the Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, told MPs he wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the end of last year "indicating my general support for the Government's approach to COVID-19".
December marked a massive transition for New Zealand in its response to the pandemic, moving away from the alert level system to the traffic lights (or COVID-19 Protection Framework).
Hunt said he pointed out that there "is a significant, integral difference between the alert level system and the traffic light system".
"On the whole, the alert level system was quite unifying, but the traffic light system has within it a divisive quality, so I drew that to the attention of the Prime Minister," he said in response to questions from National's Chris Bishop.
"I said that I thought there was a risk that the traffic light system, without great care, could conceivably become socially not cohesive, but divisive. I expressed that concern. It was those issues that I discussed with the [Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet] a few weeks ago, and I anticipate they'll be on the agenda when I meet Prime Minister next week."
The traffic light system incentivised Kiwis to get jabbed by providing greater freedoms to the vaccinated and those who carry vaccine passes. For example, if a vaccine pass isn't used at the red light, gatherings of only 25 people are allowed as opposed to 100 people with vaccine passes.
The aim was to protect New Zealanders by pushing for a very high rate of vaccination, something that was achieved with 94 percent of Kiwis aged over 12 now fully vaccinated. However, it also opened the Government up to criticism that it was creating two-classes, something Ardern has admitted the traffic light system would do.
But Ardern said vaccine certificates were not just a necessary tool to drive up vaccinations, but to give confidence to the vaccinated that they are in a safe environment.
Prime Minister Ardern this week signalled Cabinet will make decisions over the future of vaccine passes and mandates next week as part of a review of the traffic light system.
"Originally they were in place to protect from high-risk environments unvaccinated individuals," she said. "Once we come through this wave, many of them will have been exposed to COVID, which changes the need for them altogether."
Hunt on Thursday said there are "competing human rights" that must be considered.
"In the COVID context, one has to consider, on the one hand, human rights such as the rights to life, health care, health protection on the one hand, and that has to be balanced with other human rights such as the right to work, freedom of travel, freedom of assembly, and so forth," he said.
"So throughout our work, we've been trying to find fair and reasonable balances between these competing rights."
Last year, Hunt criticised the Government for passing legislation enabling the traffic light system without the usual full parliamentary scrutiny.
Frustration at the use of vaccine certificates and mandates reached a new level in February when hundreds of people swarmed Parliament's grounds, setting up campsites and blocking surrounding streets in opposition to the measures. The occupation eventually came to end earlier in March when police moved in, leading to a riot and fires on the front lawn.
Opposition political party leaders suggested the protest highlighted how "increasingly divided" New Zealand is, something Ardern pushed back on, saying she didn't believe "difference in opinion mean that we are divided as a nation".
Hunt and his team from the Human Rights Commission met with some of the protesters "to listen, conciliate, educate and advance human rights and responsibilities for all".
"I have a duty to listen to their concerns to understand how their human rights have been impacted," he said at the time.
The commission said in February that it had received "an unprecedented increase in complaints and inquiries since the beginning of the traffic light system" and had run a campaign encouraging people to "maintain respectful communication with each other".
Ardern wouldn't meet with the protesters, saying what they were doing was illegal.
"What we saw here was very quickly individuals coming onto the site and building structures, creating a permanence and abusing the people who were around them who were doing things simply like wearing masks," she said.
"So it was very quickly evident that this was not a protest to engage in the peaceful statement or sharing of a view, but those who are willing to engage in illegal activity."
A Horizon poll in February found 30 percent support for ditching vaccine mandates.
COVID-19 vaccination is mandatory for workers across several sectors: border, health, education, Corrections, Fire and Emergency, and close contact businesses that operate vaccine certificates under the traffic light system.
A Newshub investigation in February found more than 2600 workers have been stood down across the Government's sectors mandated to be vaccinated against the virus.
A High Court ruling also quashed the vaccine mandate for police and Defence Force staff in a bombshell ruling.
