Advocating for the implementation of the UN’s anti-torture treaties
KEY PROJECT | Dignity for People in Prison
The UN’s anti-torture treaties are designed to end the mistreatment of people behind bars. The Human Rights Law Centre continues to call on the Albanese Government to work with states and commit to properly funding effective and independent oversight of all places of detention across Australia.
No one should be subjected to abuse in prisons and places of detention. Yet cruel and degrading treatment is all too common in prisons and police cells across Australia. The UN’s anti-torture treaty, the Convention Against Torture, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), are designed to end the mistreatment of people behind bars. Together, they outlaw all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and require Australian governments to establish independent and effective inspection and monitoring systems to prevent mistreatment in all places of detention.
The federal government ratified OPCAT in December 2017. After lengthy delays, it was due to be implemented by January 2023. We provided feedback on draft laws seeking to implement the protocol across the country. Australia missed implementation deadline and alarmingly little progress having been made towards establishing the monitoring systems it requires, particularly in Victoria and NSW.
In October 2022, the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture visited Australia to inspect places of detention. To inform these investigations, the Human Rights Law Centre provided joint submissions with Change The Record and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service. The submissions highlighted Australia’s failure to meet international human rights standards and made a number of recommendations to end human rights abuses behind bars. Together, we used this moment to shine the international spotlight on the human rights abuses allowed to thrive in prisons across the country, and called on the federal government to show national leadership where successive previous governments have failed.
Shockingly, the NSW and Queensland governments blocked the UN Subcommittee from visiting places of detention in their states. As a result, the Committee took the drastic measure of suspending their visit to Australia. We joined with partners to condemn this flagrant breach of Australia’s obligations. Together, we used media advocacy to call for all Australian governments to fully implement OPCAT as a matter of urgency.
We continue to call on the Albanese Government to work with states and urgently commit to properly funding effective and independent oversight of all places of detention across Australia.
“Australia is in the midst of a mass imprisonment crisis, where human rights abuses are allowed to thrive in the darkness. Right now, people are being subjected to solitary confinement, women are being routinely stripped of their dignity and children as young as 10 are locked up in prison and police cells. The world is watching, and the Albanese government needs to step up to the plate and end human rights abuses behind bars.”
- Monique Hurley, Managing Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre