This is not the way things should be.  With real leadership, elections present an opportunity to tap into admirable but often latent aspects of national identity, a concept explored by Canadian political scientist Alison Brysk in her new book, Global Good Samaritans: Human Rights as Foreign Policy.  Why, Brysk asks, do a small number of countries sacrifice their national interest to promote human rights and help strangers?  Her simple answer is — they don’t.  Instead, she explains, countries such as Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands have nurtured national identities that have a deep commitment to human rights at their centre.  Global good samaritans, Brysk posits, see the “blood, treasure, and political capital they contribute to human rights as an investment, not a loss”.  Both at the local and international levels, they have learned to see themselves, she says, “as interconnected members of a community that works best for everyone when human rights are respected”.

What I’d really like to see in this election is our national leaders appealing to and mobilising the most constructive and admirable aspects of Australia’s national identity and committing to the nation’s development as a principled, persistent, fearless and forceful human rights champion in the region and on the international stage.

Certainly, we are well placed to be an effective human rights promoter state.  We are democratic and politically stable.  We are globalised and multicultural.  We have an active and well networked civil society.  We enjoy low levels of social stratification and high levels of economic development.  We are a secure regional middle power.

We also have much to gain from pursuing the human rights agenda and much to lose in failing to do so.  The positive side of the ledger includes the development of more stable and predictable international and regional policy environments, enhanced international credibility and diplomatic capital, strengthened policy coherence, and the mobilisation of universal, unifying national values.  Conversely, a failure to multilaterally address urgent human rights challenges, such as climate change and food and water insecurity, will have grave implications for global, regional and national peace, security and development.

What then, could Australia do to most actively and effectively contribute to the agenda of making human rights a human reality in the 21st century?

As a first step, Australia should develop a comprehensive strategy on human rights and foreign policy.  That strategy should mainstream human rights across all areas of Australian foreign affairs, including aid, development, trade, investment, migration, environment, business and security.  It should contain concrete measures and commitments to promote and protect human rights in the region and internationally.  Such a policy could enhance our international reputation as a human rights leader and build significant diplomatic capital.

Australia’s 2013-2014 UN Security Council candidacy could be a flagship for this policy.  As a Security Council candidate, we should commit to taking a principled, persistent and consistent approach to human rights internationally and to ensuring that our domestic policies and practices are human rights compliant.  We should use our Security Council candidacy to promote our national interest in international human rights, the rule of law and good governance.  There is good precedent for this.  In 1999-2000, Canada used its Security Council seat to promote the protection of civilians, focus international attention on the issue of “conflict diamonds”, and explore the relationship between business and human rights.

Australia should similarly take a proactive and principled approach to the UN Human Rights Council, whether as an active observer state or member. We have an important role in ensuring the Council fulfils its mandate, and achieves its potential, as the leading multilateral forum for the discussion, promotion and enforcement of human rights.

Both through the Security Council and other international and regional bodies, including trade and financial institutions, we should push a fearless and forceful human rights agenda.  This agenda should address existing human rights challenges – including poverty, financial instability and inequality – and pursue progressive initiatives, including operationalisation of the responsibility to protect, the abolition of the death penalty, the advancement of Indigenous peoples globally, and the regulation of business and human rights.

It is often observed that human rights begin at home.  The fulfilment of human rights at home is inextricably linked with our national identity and our capacity and ability to promote human rights abroad. Domestic human rights protection must be recognised as a core aspect of any comprehensive and coherent foreign human rights policy.

In order for Australia to adopt not only a principled and consistent, but also effective, approach to human rights in international affairs – from the death penalty, to child labour, to people trafficking, to a regional solution on asylum-seekers – human rights must become core business in internal affairs.  As US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently recognised, ‘By holding ourselves accountable, we reinforce our moral authority to demand that all governments adhere to obligations under international law.’

Australia’s status as the only Western democracy without a national human rights law undermines our authority and legitimacy on international human rights issues and in regional human rights dialogues.  A national Human Rights Act – rejected by the Rudd/Gillard Government – could promote more responsive and accountable government, improve public services, and enshrine fundamental values such as freedom, dignity, respect and a fair go.  Perhaps most importantly, however, a comprehensive national Human Rights Act could provide a framework for international, regional and domestic policy coordination and create a ‘virtuous circle’ in which a constructive national identity is mobilised which places human rights at the centre of our internal and external affairs.  The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has played precisely this role, placing human rights at the centre of both Canada’s self-perception and external engagement.

 Australia has what it takes to be a human rights promoter at home and abroad.  For Australia to realise our potential, however, will require real political leadership and legislative and institutional reform.  Most critically, it will require the mobilisation of a national identity that values human rights every bit as highly as beaches, barbecues, boomerangs, the Anzac spirit and the Ashes.  That is the opportunity that this Federal Election presents and the responsibility that the next Australian Government confronts.

Phil Lynch is Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Resource Centre

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 www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/international-human-rights-mechanisms/universal-periodic-review-of-australia-in-february-2011/.

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

The Australian Government report for the UPR is at www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Humanrightsandanti-discrimination_InternationalHumanRights_UniversalPeriodicReview. 

In July 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, together with the National Association of Community Legal Centres, submitted a major NGO submission on Australia to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 

The report, which was endorsed by a coalition of over 100 NGOs, details that racial and religious minority groups in Australia continue to experience racism in their daily lives and to suffer unequal human rights treatment and outcomes.  There remain serious concerns about the racially discriminatory character and impact of a range of Australian laws, policies and practices.  Many of the advances in human rights protection since the election of the Labor Government in 2007 have been symbolic in nature; structural changes necessary to turn commitments into practice still need to be made.

The NGO report documents areas in which Australia is falling short of fulfilling its obligations under CERD and focuses on areas that have been the subject of extensive NGO activity and research in Australia.

Subjects detailed in the report include:

• the lack of sufficient legal protection from racial discrimination in Australian law, policy and practice, including the ineffectiveness and, at times, unavailability of remedies for violations;
• the ongoing discriminatory outcomes experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the enjoyment of many civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• the impact of the Northern Territory Intervention on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
• the adverse impact of laws, policies and practices on asylum seekers, refugees and other non-citizens;
• the various forms of discrimination faced by migrant communities in Australia;
• the impact of Australia’s counter-terrorism laws on Somali, Kurd and Muslim communities in Australia; and
• the need for better implementation of Concluding Observations of human rights treaty monitoring bodies and a worrying trend in Australia’s response to views of those bodies.

The report contains concrete recommendations for Australian authorities, which would bring Australia more fully into compliance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; an Australia in which all persons can live with freedom, respect, equality and dignity.

On 6 July 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Follow-Up Submission on Implementation of the Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations on Australia.  The submission updates the Committee as to:

• the four Concluding Observations about which the Committee requested relevant information on implementation from Australia within one year (namely, counter-terrorism law and policy, the Northern Territory Emergency Response, violence against women and mandatory immigration detention); and
• the outcomes of the National Human Rights Consultation.

Further background information on each of these issues is contained in the comprehensive NGO Report, Addendum and fact sheets provided to the Committee in 2009, available at http://www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/civil-and-political-rights/un-human-rights-committee-review-of-australia-march-2009/.

A coalition of NGOs has prepared a 5 page report on human rights in Australia, setting out key issues and concrete recommendations.  The principal authors of the report are the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and the National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Non-government organisations are invited to endorse this report in whole or in part. 

Notifications of endorsement should be sent to Louise Edwards (louise_edwards@clc.net.au), Anna Cody (acody@unsw.edu.au) and Ben Schokman (ben.schokman@hrlrc.org.au) by no later than Friday 9 July 2010.

The report will be sent to Geneva on Monday 12 July 2010.

Further information on Australia’s review under the UPR process is available at http://www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/international-human-rights-mechanisms/universal-periodic-review-of-australia-in-february-2011/. 

As the Federal Government prepares its response to the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, ‘Human Rights and the Asia-Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges’, this policy brief on ‘Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific: Australia’s Role and Responsibilities’ contends that Australia should develop a comprehensive policy on human rights in the region.  The brief makes 21 concrete recommendations for action in the following areas:

• Human Rights as a Key Instrument and Aim of Australian Engagement in the Region
• Adopting a Human Rights-Based Approach to Aid and Development Assistance
• Adopting a Human Rights-Based Approach to Military and Security Cooperation
• Empowering Communities and Supporting NGOs
• Human Rights Treaty Ratification and Implementation
• Strengthening Human Rights Institutions
• Enhancing Parliamentary Engagement with Human Rights
• Human Rights Envoys and Ambassadors

This brief is the fifth in a series of policy papers designed by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre to inform and advance the human rights agenda in Australia.  Each brief identifies a human rights problem or opportunity, discusses the imperative for action, analyses relevant evidence, and makes concrete recommendations for Australia to advance the agenda at the international and national levels. 

Policy Brief on an Agenda to Promote Equality and Address Discrimination in Australia
(24 May 2010)

The policy brief on ‘Promoting Equality and Addressing Discrimination in Australia’ identifies that the law can and should play a central normative and educational role in advancing meaningful equality for all Australians.  This requires a shift away from an outdated and ineffective complaints-based, remedial model of anti-discrimination laws.  Instead, Australian law should promote a rights-based model of substantive equality which emphasises equal outcomes and addresses structural causes of inequality.  This would contribute to a more fair, cohesive and productive society.

The brief makes 7 concrete recommendations for action, including that:

1. The Government should release an exposure draft for a single, comprehensive Equality Act which promotes and enshrines a legal right to substantive equality.
2. The federal Equality Act should include a provision mandating that, after four years of operation, an inquiry be held into a constitutional amendment aimed at enshrining the right to equality.
3. The Federal Government should require public bodies to consider equality in policy development, spending and service delivery. 
4. The Federal Government, its agencies and public authorities should use public procurement to promote equality and assess suppliers on the progress that they are making in reducing inequality.
5. The Federal Government should show political leadership and support for the equality agenda by appointing a Minister for Human Rights and Equality who should hold a seat in cabinet.
6. All public bodies should produce and publish annual equality reports. 
7. The Australian Human Rights Commission Act should be amended to provide that all Commissioners are to submit a report, to be tabled in Parliament, regarding the status of human rights in Australia within their areas of responsibility and containing concrete recommendations to enhance human rights in these areas.  Further, the Commission should be adequately resourced to discharge this function. 

Policy Brief on Protecting Privacy while Responding to Terrorism
(3 May 2010)

The policy brief on ‘Protecting Privacy whilst Responding to Terrorism’ contends that the Australian Government should become a world leader in protecting the rights of its people to be safe from both terrorism and from undue interference with privacy.  Governments have a duty to protect the rights, lives and safety of people within their territory from legitimate threats of terrorist attacks.  However, protecting the community from terrorism and protecting human rights are not mutually exclusive.

The brief sets out the steps for the Australian Government to take to implement the approach to privacy protection recommended by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism.  In particular it sets out important steps to be taken domestically, in both law and policy, and also opportunities to lead international developments such as a global declaration on data protection.

Policy Brief on Foreign Policy and Human Rights
(6 April 2010)

The policy brief on ‘Foreign Policy and Human Rights’ contends that human rights should be both a key goal and a key instrument of Australian foreign policy.  It sets out that, despite identifying ourselves as a ‘principled advocate of human rights for all’, and demonstrating significant commitment to human rights in practice, Australia has not developed a comprehensive, consistent and coherent policy on human rights and foreign affairs.  Such a policy could integrate human rights in all areas of Australian foreign affairs and capitalise on the benefits of doing so.

The brief maintains that Australia’s approach to human rights and foreign policy should be progressive, principled and persistent.  It sets out 14 concrete recommendations for action at the international, regional and domestic levels under the headings of:

• a principled approach to universal human rights and accountability;
• multilateralism and engagement with the United Nations; and
• empowering communities and supporting NGOs.

Policy Brief on Business and Human Rights
(22 March 2010)

The policy brief on ‘Business and Human Rights’ contends that the further development and operationalisation of the business and human rights agenda presents a significant opportunity and responsibility for Australia, both at the international and domestic levels.  It contains 15 recommendations for Australian action at the international and local levels.

The brief makes 6 concrete recommendations for Australian action at the international level, including explicitly adopting the Special Representative’s framework as a basis for Australia’s approach to corporate human rights law and policy, and conducting conduct human rights impact assessments of proposed multilateral and bilateral trade and investment agreements, together with major public-private projects. 

The brief makes 8 recommendations for Australian action at the local level, including using public procurement to reinforce the responsibility of business to respect human rights and to promote socially and environmentally responsible governance, and amending the Corporations Act 2001 to require (or at the very least explicitly permit) directors to consider human rights issues as an aspect of their duty to act in the best interests of the company. 

The Centre’s submission outlines practical steps and measures, including legislative, administrative and financial measures, for the Australian Government to improve the promotion and protection of social and economic rights, including in relation to:

• the legal protection of rights;
• the mandate, functions and powers of the Australian Human Rights Commission;
• anti-discrimination legislation;
• the Northern Territory Intervention;
• Indigenous self-determination and political participation;
• gender equality;
• homelessness;
• Indigenous health, education and language and land rights;
• mandatory immigration detention; and
• human rights education in Australia. 

The HRLRC’s submission:

• addresses positive developments that should be included in the Australian Government’s report; and
• identifies a number of areas of concern and challenge regarding the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia.

Further information on Australia’s review under the UPR process is available at http://www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/international-human-rights-mechanisms/universal-periodic-review-of-australia-in-february-2011/. 

NGO Involvement

NGOs can provide information to the UN Human Rights Council on Australia’s human rights record.  NGOs must limit their submission to 5 pages.  Experience in the review of other States has shown that the most effective way for NGOs to influence the UPR is to develop a single 5‑page report that is developed and endorsed by a large coalition of NGOs. 

A working group of interested NGOs has been established to coordinate the preparation of a joint 5‑page NGO Report.  Please email us (see contact details below) if you are interested in being part of the NGO working group.  The working group is open to all civil society groups.  

Government’s Report

The Australian Government has recently invited NGOs to submit initial views on information that they would like to see included in the Australian Government’s report by 16 April 2010. 

Click here for a copy of the HRLRC’s submission or click here for further details about the Government’s request for intial views.

Further Information

Click here for a Background Paper on the UPR process and opportunities for NGO involvement.

Contacts

For further information on the NGO working group, please contact:

Anna Cody, Kingsford Legal Centre, acody@unsw.edu.au, ph:  (02) 9385 9566
Louise Edwards, National Association of CLCs, louise_edwards@clc.net.au, ph:  (02) 9264 9595
Ben Schokman, Human Rights Law Resource Centre, ben.schokman@hrlrc.org.au, ph:  (03) 8636 4451