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1 Introduction

  1. This 2014 UPR Progress Report is the fourth in a series of annual reports developed in the lead up to Australia’s Second Cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.[1] The second cycle review is tentatively scheduled for 9 November 2015.[2]
     
  2. The reports are lodged with the Human Rights Council annually to provide accountability for Australia’s progress under the UPR.

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

  1. The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States once every four years. It is a Member State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. As it is a peer review process, recommendations are made by other governments rather than by independent experts. The UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.
     
  2. The UPR was created through the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006. The first cycle reviews of all Member States were completed by October 2011. The second cycle of reviews commenced in 2012 and are due to be completed by 2016.
     
  3. The first cycle review of Australia was conducted in 2011. 52 countries asked questions about Australia’s human rights record and made 145 recommendations. The Australian Government accepted in full or in part over 90 per cent of these and also made a number of voluntary commitments to actions

 

  1. The 2014 report has been prepared by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) on behalf of the Australian Council of Human Rights Authorities (ACHRA), a body that brings together all Commonwealth, State and Territory anti-discrimination and human rights bodies.
     
  2. Over the last 12 months there have been some positive developments in the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia. ACHRA welcomes the following achievements:
    • The continued roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
    • The appointment of a Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission
    • The robust human rights analysis of proposed legislation by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights
    • Launch of Australia's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery 2015–19.
       
  3. Despite these positive developments, ACHRA is concerned that there has been limited action taken to advance human rights across a range of subject areas. Many actions committed to through the UPR process, and reflected in Australia’s National Action Plan on Human Rights, have not been implemented or advanced over the past year.

Implementation of UPR recommendations

  1. This report contains a table listing the 145 recommendations made to Australia in the first round of the UPR. It indicates which recommendations have been:
    • Implemented
    • Partly implemented
    • Not implemented
    • Not supported at the time of the UPR review.

The information in the table reveals that at the present time only 11 per cent of recommendations that Australia accepted (in whole or in part) have been fully implemented since 2012.

 

  1. ACHRA is concerned at regressions in human rights protection in relation to asylum seekers. Of particular concern is the lengthy detention of asylum seekers, including children, through: Australia’s mandatory immigration detention system; the use of third country processing; and the removal of direct references to Australia’s non-refoulement obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees from the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Bills still before Parliament also raise significant concerns about human rights protection, such as amendments to the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth),[3] and confirm that refugee law and asylum seeker policy remains one of Australia’s biggest human rights challenges.
  2. ACHRA continues to be concerned at the lack of progress towards ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), as well as lack of progress in advancing commitments made in the UPR process to review reservations to treaties.
  3. This report is organised in accordance with the thematic groupings and headings that are used in the UPR reporting process.

[1] Australian Human Rights Commission, Australia's Universal Periodic Review on human rights – Annual Progress Reports. At https://www.humanrights.gov.au/australias-universal-periodic-review-human-rights (viewed 18 November 2014).
[2] Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UPR Sessions. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRSessions.aspx (viewed 18 November 2014).
[3] Australian Citizenship and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (Cth).