A decision by the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (UN SPT) to terminate a visit to Australia is extremely disappointing — not only because it could seriously damage Australia’s international reputation, but also because it reflects Australia’s fragmented approach to protecting the rights of people in detention.
Since its establishment in 2007, the UN SPT has made over 80 visits to more than 60 countries to inspect places of detention. Until this week, the only visit it had ever terminated was to Rwanda.
Australia has become only the second country to have had a visit terminated, and that is something we should never have allowed to happen.
The UN SPT suspended its visit to Australia last October, citing a lack of cooperation and obstruction in the exercise of its mandate, with Queensland and NSW specifically named. Its statement said there “is no alternative but to terminate the visit as the issue of unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty in two states has not yet been resolved”.
Australia needs to do better.
These are not obligations that have been forced upon us, or that have arisen unexpectedly. We voluntarily chose to ratify the Optional Protocol for the Prevention of Torture (OPCAT) back in 2017 and we promised to fully implement the treaty by 20 January 2023.
We have not kept our word. This damages our international reputation and reflects poorly on Australia’s global human rights advocacy.
So what should happen next? I believe that there are two key things that need to happen immediately.
The first concerns the report of the UN SPT visit. Although the visit has been terminated, the UN SPT has confirmed it will still provide a report to the federal government based on the preliminary observations from its visit. The government should commit to publishing that report in full in the interests of transparency and accountability.
The second key step is for all Australian governments — federal, state and territory — to reaffirm their commitment to OPCAT and prioritise taking immediate action to ensure full compliance with Australia’s obligations.
While it is the federal government that signed up to OPCAT, all state and territory governments also have a core responsibility to ensure that places of detention within their jurisdictions meet minimum standards and that human rights abuses are not occurring under their watch.
Arguments about funding need to be resolved so that we can focus on the real issue at the heart of OPCAT — making sure we stop abuse and mistreatment in places of detention.
While Australia has made some progress in recent years when it comes to OPCAT, we still have a long way to go before we can say we are meeting our obligations.
The Australian Human Rights Commission released a Road Map to OPCAT Compliance last October that sets out key recommendations to help guide the implementation of OPCAT. Adopting the five recommendations in the road map would be a good starting point.
If Australia fails to resolve the issues that led to the termination of the UN SPT visit and does not take immediate steps to meet our OPCAT obligations, we run the risk of being placed on a public non-compliance list.
Being publicly listed alongside countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan as being substantially overdue in meeting our OPCAT obligations would be a further embarrassment.
Australia has a clear strategic interest in supporting a stable, rules-based international order, and advocacy for human rights has always been a core part of our global identity. But how can we criticise other countries for ignoring their international obligations if we don’t meet our own?
And how can we claim to be global leaders in human rights when we are not fulfilling the human rights promises that we made when we signed OPCAT?
The termination of the SPT visit should be a wake-up call to all Australian governments. We need to urgently prioritise the implementation of OPCAT and deliver on the promises that we made to the world.
There should be no more excuses and no more delays.
READ MORE:
Time’s up for Australia to implement OPCAT, commissioner says
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