Human Rights Briefing Paper to Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues

In February 2008, the HRLRC, together with the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Rights Australia, prepared a Briefing Paper on Key Human Rights Issues in Australia for Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues and Chair of the Coordinating Committee on UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, in advance of her visit to Australia in April 2008. The Briefing Paper considers a range of contemporary human rights issues in Australia, including:

  • the lack of entrenchment of basic human rights in Australia’s domestic laws;
  • the human rights of Indigenous Australians;
  • Australian law, policy and practice in relation to asylum seekers;
  • counter-terrorism laws and measures;
  • discrimination against and vilification of Australia’s Muslim and Arab population;
  • mental health law, policy and practice;
  • the protection of prisoners’ human rights, including particularly the right to health;
  • Australia’s policy on the death penalty being applied in other countries; and
  • homelessness and poverty.
Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, visited Australia as a guest of the HRLRC
MichelleBennettDiscrimination & Equality, United Nations