Using the UN System

Human Rights recommendations from United Nations committees

Recommendations from United Nations (UN) committees or treaty bodies can be used in your conversations with Government.

Australia is a “party” to various international human rights treaties. This means it has agree to comply with the treaties. Periodically, the UN treaty bodies (experts) review Australia’s compliance with those treaties, and make recommendations about what Australia should change, or improve, in order to meet international human rights standards.  Further information about the UN system for periodic reviews is contained in the Guide to UN Treaty Bodies by the International Service for Human Rights.

It can be useful to quote the UN recommendations when advocating for change to laws, policies or practices in Australia.

Recent recommendations include:

• The 20 plus recommendations, that the CERD committee made, under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), on the 27^th August 2010, for solid action to address racial discrimination, disadvantage and inequality in Australia. They can be found at http://www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/business/race-discrimination-un-committee-releases-report-and-recommendations-on-australia-28-august-2010/
• Recommendations made under Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on the 30^th June 2010. They can be found at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-AUS-CO-7.pdf
• Recommendations made by the UN Special Rapportuer on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Anand Grover, on 3 June 2010, following his mission to Australia in November and December 2009, focusing on the standard of living and quality of health care and health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people in prison and immigration detainees. They can be found at http://www.hrlrc.org.au/content/topics/esc-rights/right-to-health-un-special-rapporteur-releases-report-on-australia
• Recommendations made by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights following a review of Australia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rightson 25 May 2009. They can be found at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/AdvanceVersions/E-C12-AUS-CO-4.doc. 
• Recommendations made by he UN Human Rights Committee, following its review of Australia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the 2^nd April 2009.They can be accessed athttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/co/CCPR-C-AUS-CO5-CRP1.doc.

Submitting a Human Rights Complaint to the United Nations

The United Nations human rights system contains various human rights complaint procedures. Through these procedures, individuals may bring a human rights concern to the attention of the United Nations.

Human rights complaints may be submitted under these three mechanisms:

• The international human rights treaties (petitions);
• The special procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council; and
• The complaint procedure of the Human Rights Council.

Details about these complaint mechanisms, and when they can be used are found in Chapter VIII “Submitting a Complaint of an Alleged Human Rights Violation” of the Office of United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights’  “Handbook for Civil Society” available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/CivilSociety/Pages/Handbook.aspx

By ratifying the ICERD, the CAT and the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, Australia has recognised the competence of Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee against Torture and the Human Rights Committee to hear individual complaints about violations of the relevant treaty provisions.

For detailed information, consult the Guide to UN Treaty Bodies by the International Service for Human Rights

The Australian Human Rights Commission produces a number of Factsheets about human rights and the United Nations, available at: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/hr_explained/

One of the factsheets “Case Studies”, sets out examples of complaints that have been made in relation to Australia.