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Australia elected to UN human rights council Australia elected to UN human rights council
(about 1 hour later)
Australia has been elected to the United Nations human rights council unopposed, marking the first time the country has served on the council. Australia has been elected to the UN human rights council uncontested, marking the first time the country has served on the powerful body.
Gillian Bird, ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, tweeted Australia’s success after the vote in Geneva early on Tuesday (AEDT). But the rights record of the council’s new membership is again the focus of attention and criticism. Also elected were the Democratic Republic of Congo, where extrajudicial killings and the recruitment of child soldiers persist, and Pakistan, which retains the death penalty for crimes such as blasphemy.
“Thanks all for supporting #Oz4HumanRights & thanks to our great team! We look forward to serving with other successful candidates on @UN_HRC,” Bird tweeted. The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, told Radio National that the fact Australia had won 176 votes was a “very strong endorsement” and indicated it was seen as “a principled and a pragmatic voice when it comes to human rights”.
Australia joins Spain as a Western European and other States representative for the three-year term, replacing the Netherlands and Portugal. Bishop said Australia’s focus would be on the empowerment of women, Indigenous rights, strong domestic human rights institutions, the abolition of the death penalty and human rights crises around the world, including in North Korea and Syria.
The race to serve on the council narrowed when France dropped out of contention. Asked about the human rights records of of other council members including Senegal, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Bishop said membership was an opportunity to scrutinise their record and that Australia supported a US-led push to reform the council so those with “appalling records are subject to greater scrutiny”.
On Monday, ahead of the vote, the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, insisted Australia was a transparent, accountable nation and would bring a principled, pragmatic approach to work at the council if elected. For three-year terms beginning in 2018, elections to the 47-member council were almost entirely uncompetitive. Only among Asia-Pacific states, where six states are competing for four seats, were places contested.
“Australia is open to being investigated and open to views from outside, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t rightfully take our place on the Human Rights Council,” Ms Bishop told reporters in Canberra . Australia was competing against Spain and France for one of two spots representing the western Europe and others group, but the contest to serve on the council became a formality when France withdrew its bid.
Bishop had been buoyed by the enormous level of support towards Australia’s bid when it was a contested campaign. But Australia’s bid, and elevation, has not been without criticism.
Australia’s bid to serve on the council, however, has attracted criticism, most recently from World Vision Australia’s boss, Tim Costello. Oxfam Australia’s humanitarian policy adviser, Nicole Bieske, said Australia’s efforts to be a regional and global leader on rights would ring hollow unless it addressed rights issues domestically, in particular Indigenous rights and refugee policy.
On Monday, before the vote, Costello called on the government to close “its inhumane offshore detention centres” which were a “blight on Australia’s international reputation”. “Indigenous children are grossly over-represented in detention centres, and the child mortality rate is double the national average,” Bieske said.
“If we are to play a credible role in promoting human rights internationally, we need to look to our own behaviour,” he said in an emailed statement. “We need to do more than talk the talk on human rights, we need to walk the walk.” She said Australia should lift its refugee intake to 42,000 people by 2021 and immediately close its offshore immigration processing centres on Nauru and Manus and bring refugees held there to Australia. “It is imperative that the Australian government provide support services to refugees who have been further traumatised by the offshore processing system,” she said.
The Refugee Council of Australia was similarly critical of the country’s human rights record. “Australia has an unprecedented opportunity to progress human rights in the Indo-Pacific region and globally as a member of the human rights council. This will require consistent and principled advocacy and a willingness to speak out when states are abusing their people. Instead of paying lip service to international human rights, Australia must ensure they are implemented at home and abroad.”
“Australia’s human rights record is on shaky ground when it comes to their ongoing treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum,” chief executive Paul Power said. As Australia was being elevated uncontested to the human rights council in New York, in Geneva, the country’s human rights record was being assessed by the unrelated UN body, the human rights committee.
The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples pointed to the federal government’s relationship with indigenous Australians that had been “sorely strained” in recent years. Again, the country’s record on Indigenous rights, particularly on health, education, incarceration and refugee policies, have been under scrutiny.
The UN is set to scrutinise Australia’s human rights record on Wednesday and Thursday as part of a regular examination process. On Australia’s examination by the human rights committee, Bishop said it was “standard procedure” rather than Australia being “hauled” before the body. All countries have their rights record assessed by the committee periodically.
She defended Australia’s record on the treatment of asylum seekers, arguing Australia was closing down detention centres and had “smashed the people-smuggling trade”.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report