Universal Periodic Review: Joint NGO Report on Australia

Australia is to be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review process in January 2011. A coalition of 68 NGOs - coordinated by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and the National Association of Community Legal Centres - has submitted a 5 page Report to the UN Human Rights Council on Australia, setting out key human rights issues and concrete recommendations, including in relation to:

  • the legal recognition and protection of human rights
  • Australia's cooperation with international human rights mechanisms
  • equality and non-discrimination
  • women's rights
  • children's rights
  • the rights of people with disability
  • GLBTI rights
  • Indigenous rights, including in respect of the Northern Territory Intervention, the criminal justice system, native title, the Stolen Generations, Stolen Wages, and access to adequate health care, housing and education
  • the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
  • prisoners' rights and conditions of detention
  • police use of force and oversight and complaint mechanisms
  • the administration of justice
  • homelessness
  • mental health care
  • human rights and counter-terrorism
  • business and human rights
  • international assistance and Australian foreign policy

The report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 12 July 2010.

Further information on Australia’s review under the UPR process is available at http://www.hrlc.org.au/upr.

The submisssion of the Australian Human Rights Commission for the UPR is at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/upr/index.html.

Amnesty International and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services of Australia have also made NGO submissions on Australia for the UPR.

MichelleBennettUnited Nations