UN reviews Australia's role in International Refugee Human Rights Violations

Wednesday 18 September 2013 @ 10.33 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research | Immigration

In Australia's Universal Periodic Review on human rights, still undergoing processing by the United Nations Human Rights Council, questions have been raised about recent asylum seeker and refugee policies in Australia.

Australia appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 27 January 2011. At Australia’s first UPR appearance, 53 countries asked Australia about its human rights record, and made 145 recommendations. These covered a wide range of human rights issues including the treatment of asylum seekers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, multiculturalism and racism, and the status of Australia’s obligations under international human rights law.

Australia also made a number of voluntary commitments during the dialogue, including:

  • establishing a full-time Race Discrimination Commissioner in the Australian Human Rights Commission
  • tabling in Parliament the concluding observations of human rights treaty bodies and UPR recommendations
  • establishing a systematic process for the regular review of Australia's reservations in international human rights treaties
  • increasing funding for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • establishing a public online database of recommendations made by the UN
  • using those UPR recommendations accepted by the government to inform the development of Australia's National Human Rights Action plan

Over 90 per cent of recommendations were accepted in full or in part by the Australian Government.

Since its UPR appearance, Australia has come under fire from the Human Right Legal Centre (HRLC) who said it intended to deliver a statement to the council's current session in Geneva seeking condemnation of prime minister-elect Tony Abbott's plans for asylum-seekers who arrive by boat.

Abbott says he will use the navy to tow people-smuggling boats back to their place of origin and will force those who do arrive or are already here onto a tough new regime including the following:

  • three-year temporary visas
  • no chance of permanent residency
  • denied family reunion
  • denied appeal or legal assistance
  • made to work for government benefits

As The Conversation states:

"The removal of these legal and administrative rights has been the subject of considerable criticism in legal circles. If these rights are in fact removed, more cases are likely to end up in the High Court. This is a poor policy outcome. Despite its pre-election position, we are likely to see a continuation of judicial review in the Federal Court, if not access to merits review in the RRT."

The HRLC statement will encompass Australia's role on the UN Security Council and the fact that the country may be setting an alarming international precedent, especially in light of the publicity gained in its role on the UN Security Council.

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