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Australia - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 37, January 20, 2021
Recommendations by Canada

Background

Australia is a multiparty parliamentary democracy that enjoys a strong tradition of respect for human rights. Australia is party to seven of the nine principle human rights treaties. However, Australia does not have a Bill of Rights in its constitution. While some international human rights commitments are enshrined in law, many gaps still remain.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia is 10 years old. While children from the ages of 10 to 14 are considered “criminally incapable” in Australia, this principle is not consistently applied. It is generally accepted that children in this age group lack the capacity to fully understand the criminal justice system and the implications of the legal decisions being made by themselves and others, leading to high rates of false confessions and accepted plea bargains. The low age of criminal responsibility disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are gravely overrepresented in youth detention facilities.

There are still wide social and economic disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Gaps across a number of areas – health, education, justice, and the right to be free of racism and discrimination, among them – exist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Those disparities result in lower life expectancies and higher rates of illness amongst Indigenous people.

There is no explicit protection for the freedom of expression in Australia’s constitution. While the High Court of Australia has held that the constitution implies certain rights to freedom of political expression, the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act 2018, which directly targets journalists and whistleblowers by introducing new offenses for government whistleblowers and those ‘dealing’ with sensitive information, has been criticized for its infringement on basic rights. The implementation of this bill risks infringing on the right to freedom of expression.

Recommendations

Thank you, Madam President. 

Canada congratulates Australia on the legalization of same-sex marriage in December 2017. This legislation marks a major milestone in Australia’s efforts to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Canada recommends that Australia:

1. Increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility and adopt measures to ensure children receive appropriate community support directed at addressing risk factors.
2. Ensure that Australia’s international human rights obligations are enshrined in domestic law.
3. Take steps, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples, and their representative bodies, to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into law, policy and practice.

Canada urges Australia to introduce safeguards to protect journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, whistleblowers, and others making disclosures in the public interest.