Australia’s International Human Rights Obligations

Australia is a party to the seven key international human rights treaties. For example, Australia has signed and ratified:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
• The Convention Against Torture (CAT),
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Australia has also signed or ratified a number of optional protocols to these treaties. For example:

• Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty;
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women ;
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict;
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography;
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and
• Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

These treaties, which Australia has voluntarily entered in, set out in clear terms Australia's international human rights obligations. Australia is bound to comply with their provisions and to implement them domestically.

Accordingly, the Law Council uses these instruments as a framework for evaluating Australia's human rights performance, particularly when assessing the appropriateness of proposed legislative or policy reforms.

The Law Council also strongly encourages the Australian Government to engage openly and constructively with the treaty monitoring bodies by reporting frankly on its compliance record and accepting recommendations for reform.

Universal Periodic Review of Australia in January 2011

Australia was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in January 2011. The UPR is a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council which reviews the human rights records of all 192 United Nations Member States. The Law Council has actively participated in the development of the documents submitted to the UN Human Rights Council as part of this process, including by making submissions to the Australian Government's report and to the Australian Human Rights Council's report. These submissions are available under 'materials'. The Law Council has worked with other NGOs to communicate its concerns regarding Australia's human rights performance to the UN Human Rights Council.

Following Australia's appearance before the UN Human Rights Council, a number of recommendations were made to improve Australia's international human rights performance. Many of these recommendations reflect the concerns raised by the Law Council. On 6 June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council released the Australian Government's response to the recommendations. The Government's response to the full list of recommendations, as well as the report of the UN Human Rights Council on Australia is available at the UN Human Rights website. For more information on the UPR process please refer to the Human Rights Law Resource Centre page on International Human Rights Mechanisms.

Materials

Years: 2012 , 2011 , 2010 , 2009 , 2008

2012

•  Draft Charter of the Commonwealth
  Submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

2011

•  Law Council Intervention on International Human Rights Matters
•  United Nations Convention against Corruption
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Commonwealth Commissioner for Children and Young People Bill 2010
  Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
•  Consultation on UPR Recommendations
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Australia’s Accession to the Convention on Cybercrime
  Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties
•  People Trafficking Submission
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  National Integrity Commission Bill
  Submission to the Australian Greens
•  Criminal Code Amendment (Cluster Munitions Prohibition) Bill 2010
  Submission to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee
•  Commonwealth Commissioner for Children and Young People Bill 2010
  Submission to the Senate Legal and Consitutional Affairs Committee

2010

•  Draft Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Universal Periodic Review of Australia - Draft Report
  Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission
•  United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Australia - Australian Government's National Report
  Submitted to the Attorney-General's Department

2009

•  Comments on the United Nations Human Rights Committee Concluding Observations
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 40 of the Covenant
  Submitted to the Human Rights Committee, Geneva

2008

•  Australia's Accesssion to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  Letter to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties
•  Australia's Response to the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee Against Torture
  Response to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Shadow Report to Australia's Common Core Document
  Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
•  Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  Consultation on the Possible Accession of Australia to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department
•  United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  Submission to the Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs