Australia’s human rights record under scrutiny at major UN human rights review
Australia’s human rights performance will be in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.
At the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), other countries will question Australia about its human rights record and recommend improvements. Australia can make voluntary commitments to improve its human rights performance and can agree to implement other countries’ recommendations.
The Human Rights Law Centre’s Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, said Australia can expect a number of rights issues to face intense scrutiny.
“As a wealthy, stable democracy, Australia could lead the world on human rights yet too often Australian governments fail to respect people’s human rights in critical areas. Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and refugees and people seeking asylum in particular are likely to be in the spotlight at the review.”
The Human Rights Law Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and Caxton Legal Centre coordinated an NGO coalition which prepared a detailed report to inform the review and briefed UN member states ahead of the review. The NGO report has been endorsed by over 200 Australian NGOs.
“The NGO report outlines 88 recommendations for Australian governments to lead on human rights, such as raising the age of criminal responsibility so that children as young as 10 can’t be locked up, implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and stronger commitments to address climate change.
“At Australia’s last review in 2015, 104 countries made 290 recommendations to Australia to improve rights. Despite Australia agreeing to many of those recommendations, only 17% have been fully implemented.
“Australian governments must do better. If Australian governments uphold the human rights of all people, we will have stronger, healthier communities across the country,” added Mr de Kretser.
Cathy Eatock, Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation-Australia (IPO), a coalition of 285 Aboriginal and Torres Strait organisations and individuals, who contributed Indigenous content to the NGO report, said:
“Of the 290 UPR recommendations to Australia in 2015, 194 addressed areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s concern, reflecting our over-representation across all negative social indicators. So, we welcome the review of Australia’s human rights compliance through the UPR process.
“The right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples is confirmed in international law and underpins progress across all of our human rights concerns, so the IPO welcomes the recent release of the Indigenous Voice interim report, to establish an Indigenous representative body to provide a voice on legislation and policies that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, the representative body cannot be relegated to advisory without substantive negotiation rights. Also, the Report suggests some members may be appointed by Government, this is not acceptable - all positions must be elected by and accountable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We also endorse calls for a Makarrata Commission, to establish a truth telling and treaty process, which is crucial to move Australia to a post conflict process of decolonization,” added Ms Eatock.
Priscilla Atkins, Co-Chair, NATSILS, said:
“The Universal Periodic Review is an important opportunity for the Australian Government to commit to respecting the human rights and lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our people consistently suffer injustices from discriminatory policies, systemic racism, over-policing, human rights abuses and deaths in custody in the justice system. We urge the Australian Government and all states and territories to urgently commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.”
The review will take place in Geneva on Wednesday 20 January 2021 7-9.30pm AEDT.
Australia’s appearance can be viewed live via webcast and a number of NGOs will be tweeting using the hashtag #AusUPR.
Background
The Human Rights Council is like the human rights parliament of the United Nations. The Council has 47 member states. Australia was recently a member of the Council serving a term from 2018 to 2020. All 193 UN member countries can participate in each country’s UPR. This will be Australia’s third review since the UPR procedure was adopted.
You can watch Australia’s review live on http://webtv.un.org or follow the appearance on Twitter using the hashtage #AusUPR.
The review will be informed by information including the Australian Government’s report, UN expert reports, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report and the NGO Coalition report.
The NGO Report was coordinated by the Human Rights Law Centre, the Kingsford Legal Centre and the Caxton Legal Centre, working with an Advisory Group comprised of 16 NGOs, and authors from 57 NGOs. Over 200 Australian NGO’s have endorsed the report. A copy of the Joint NGO Report can be found here. t. For more information about the UPR please visit: hrlc.org.au/universal-periodic-review
Media enquiries:
Michelle Bennett
Human Rights Law Centre:
0419 100 519