Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

Australia's Universal Periodic Review

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

The Universal Periodic Review is a new process undertaken by the United Nations Human Rights Council. It involves review of the human rights records of all 192 Member States once every four years. The ultimate aim of the review is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur. Australia’s first Universal Periodic Review took place in January 2011.

The National Report

Each Member State under review must produce a 20 page National Report which is submitted to the Human Rights Council before the review. Member States are encouraged to prepare the report through a broad consultation process at the national level with all relevant stakeholders.

The Attorney-General’s Department coordinated the preparation of the Australian Government’s National Report. The due date for making submissions on the draft National Report was 20 August 2010. The Attorney-General’s Department is grateful for all submissions received and has taken them into account where possible.

The Attorney-General’s Department lodged the National Report with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in October 2010.  

The Universal Periodic Review National Report is available below:

If you require further assistance in accessing the report, please contact us at upr@ag.gov.au.

Australia’s interactive dialogue before the Human Rights Council

Australia’s interactive dialogue was held in Geneva on 27 January 2011. The Australian Government delegation was headed by the Hon Senator Kate Lundy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. Due to his portfolio responsibilities for emergency management and the unprecedented floods across Australia, the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, was unable to attend the Universal Periodic Review.

The delegation included senior officials from the Attorney-General’s Department; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations.

During the interactive session, 53 countries asked questions of and made recommendations to Australia. Australia received 145 recommendations in total. These recommendations are set out in the Draft Report (as it then was) prepared by the Universal Periodic Review Working Group:

In addition to responding to questions and recommendations, Australia also announced a number of voluntary commitments during the dialogue including

  • the establishment of a full-time Race Discrimination Commissioner in the Australian Human Rights Commission;
  • the tabling in Parliament of concluding observations of UN treaty bodies and UPR recommendations;
  • the establishment of a systematic process for the regular review of Australia’s reservations in international human rights treaties;
  • increased funding for OHCHR and the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions;
  • the establishment of a public online database of recommendations from the UN human rights system; and
  • its intention to use the UPR recommendations accepted by the government to inform the development of Australia’s National Human Rights Action Plan.

On 3 March 2011, the Attorney-General tabled the UN Draft Report in Parliament. The Ministerial Statement by the Attorney-General can be found below:

Australia’s Response to the UPR Recommendations

On 8 June 2011, HE Mr Peter Woolcott, Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, appeared before the UN Human Rights Council to formally respond to the recommendations made as part of Australia’s first UPR. At this session of the Human Rights Council, Australia’s UPR report and response were formally adopted by the Council.

Australia’s UPR response was developed following an extensive consultation process across Commonwealth Departments, State and Territory Governments as well as non-government organisations and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Australia accepted over 90 per cent of the recommendations. A copy of the response can be found below:

Australia has committed to providing the Human Rights Council with an interim report outlining the progress of implementation of the recommendations that have been accepted.

The accepted recommendations will also inform the development of the National Human Rights Action Plan, which is being developed as part of the Government’s National Human Rights Framework. More information on the National Human Rights Action Plan can be found on the Attorney-General’s Department’s website.

Where can I find more information?

For more information about the UPR visit the Australian Human Rights Commission or UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - UPR website.

Contact:
Office of International Law
Email: upr@ag.gov.au