A number of legal organisations across the country have been independently reviewing the extent to which Australia has complied with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  They have jointly prepared an NGO report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council.

They found that:

“Australia is not meeting its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty that Australia ratified in 1980. Fundamental human rights issues have been at the core of national political and social debate in Australia in the last decade.  This report documents areas in which Australia is falling short of its obligations …including:

• the lack of constitutional or legislative recognition and protection of civil and political rights;
• groups vulnerable to discrimination, such as Indigenous peoples, women and children, people with disability, asylum seekers and gay and lesbian couples;
• Australia's counter-terrorism laws and measures;
• Australia's immigration law, policy and practice; and
• the treatment of people in detention, including prisoners and people in involuntary psychiatric detention.”

Download the full report from http://tinyurl.com/4kc5zm.

Source: Just Rights Queensland