This research is a focused project on one aspect of the parliamentary process. It provides a contextualised account of select committees and their scrutiny of human rights with a particular emphasis on New Zealand’s 52nd Parliament in the 2017-2019 period. The report reviews the literature, details the methodology used to gather data and reports on the controversy surrounding Select Committee composition early in the 52nd Parliament. It then looks at a range of case studies of law-making including long-standing problem cases, such as payment for family carers and prisoners’ voting rights that expose the limitations of human rights scrutiny. This analysis is followed by more recent bills that have been considered by Select Committees which demonstrate both strengths and weaknesses of human rights scrutiny. These include the: Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill; the Domestic Violence Victims Protection Bill and the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill. Two other pieces of proposed legislation, the Equal Pay Amendment Bill and the End of Life Choice Bill were also considered.