Australia heavily criticized at UN human rights forum

By Jill Fraser

MELBOURNE

More than 100 countries at a United Nations human rights forum in Geneva have lined up to express criticism of Australia’s asylum seeker policy and what they referred to as the inhumane treatment of its indigenous people.

Friends and foes alike took the opportunity to slam Australia’s human rights record during a performance review by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Among many, Turkey took umbrage at Australia's treatment of refugees at offshore immigrant detention facilities in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

"We remain concerned about Australia's protection of the rights of migrants, especially of women and children at offshore facilities," Turkey's delegate Umut Deniz underlined.

He called on the country to "instill a transparent, human rights-based approach related to the treatment of asylum seekers following their arrival, including the cessation of transfers to third countries."

The Universal Periodic Review is a review UN member states are subject to every four years as part their obligations under the UNHRC.

Australia has come under fire for its offshore processing of asylum claims, turning back boats and holding children in detention. Other concerns raised included the sterilisation of disabled people, the high level of violence against women and the spread of Islamophobia.

During an almost four-hour session Monday more than half of the UN countries condemned Australia’s human rights record in just 65 allocated seconds.

Several countries that are either sources of asylum-seekers or used by people smugglers including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, also voiced criticism.

Australian Greens Immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young noted in a statement Tuesday that even "Australia’s closest allies, like the U.S., U.K. and Canada, are appalled by the way we treat people seeking asylum."

The United States encouraged Australia to "ensure humane treatment and respect for the human rights of asylum seekers, including those processed offshore".

It went on to call on Australia to "closely monitor" the processing of refugees and asylum seekers.

Sweden's delegate told the session that Australia was the only country in the world that used offshore processing and mandatory detention of asylum seekers, while Norway raised similar concerns.

"Norway remains concerned about reported conditions for asylum seekers detained in offshore processing centres. Norway recommends that asylum seekers claims are processed in accordance with the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] convention," Norway's delegate said.

Professor Sarah Joseph of Monash University's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, who was in the room in Geneva observing proceedings, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that Australia, meanwhile, "staunchly defended" its human rights record.

According to News Corporation reports, Andrew Goledzinowski, Australia’s ambassador for people smuggling issues, said more than 1,200 migrants had died in attempts to reach the country by boat, prompting the Australian community to decide it could "no longer tolerate such a level of carnage".

He said that deterrent policies meant that in the last 18 months the number of asylum seekers who had died at sea was zero.

Goledzinowski assured the council that "no asylum seeker who engages our protection obligations is ever returned to a situation of danger".

However. Prof. Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, commented that there were some points in Australia’s response that were "deeply misleading".

"About 75 percent of recommendations were about detention centers, mandatory detention especially in relation to children and the stop-the-boats policy that failed to recognise the rights of asylum seekers… that was probably the majority view," Triggs said.

"There is real international concern about Australia's asylum-seeker policies… [there is] a disappointment that we have strayed from our international obligations."

Joseph told Anadolu Agency that it rapidly became clear that a very large number of countries had respect for Australia’s history of human rights, but at the same time had some very serious concerns for its human rights records "right now".

She believes the Australian government will be influenced by what has been expressed.

"Countries care about what other countries think," she underlined, adding: "I only wish they cared more about what human rights experts such as myself think."