<P> Individuals of Māori or other Polynesian descent are often afforded improved access to university courses, or have scholarships earmarked specifically for them . Affirmative action is provided for under section 73 of the Human Rights Act 1993 and section 19 (2) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 . </P> <P> Some Brazilian universities (state and federal) have created systems of preferred admissions (quotas) for racial minorities (blacks and Amerindians), the poor and people with disabilities . There are also quotas of up to 20% of vacancies reserved for people with disabilities in the civil public services . The Democrats party, accusing the board of directors of the University of Brasília of "Nazism", appealed to the Supreme Federal Court against the constitutionality of the quotas the University reserves for minorities . The Supreme Court unanimously approved their constitutionality on 26 April 2012 . </P> <P> The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulates (in Article 2.2) that affirmative action programs may be required of countries that ratified the convention, in order to rectify systematic discrimination . It states, however, that such programs "shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved ." </P> <P> The United Nations Human Rights Committee states that "the principle of equality sometimes requires States parties to take affirmative action in order to diminish or eliminate conditions which cause or help to perpetuate discrimination prohibited by the Covenant . For example, in a State where the general conditions of a certain part of the population prevent or impair their enjoyment of human rights, the State should take specific action to correct those conditions . Such action may involve granting for a time to the part of the population concerned certain preferential treatment in specific matters as compared with the rest of the population . However, as long as such action is needed to correct discrimination, in fact, it is a case of legitimate differentiation under the Covenant ." </P>

Who was required to have affirmative action programs