International human rights system

Human rights are codified in international agreements or treaties between governments, called conventions or covenants.  International human rights treaties provide an agreed set of human rights standards and establish mechanisms to monitor the way that a treaty is implemented. By ratifying a treaty, a country voluntarily accepts legal obligations under international law.

Australia is a party to the seven core international human rights treaties:

• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
• the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

It is against these treaties that human rights scrutiny processes under the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 are undertaken. Australia also has periodic treaty body reporting obligations under these treaties.

Australia is an active participant in the Universal Periodic Review process which provides an in-depth analysis of Australia’s compliance with our international human rights obligations. 

Australia is also a party to:

• the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights establishing an individual communication mechanism
• the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women establishing an individual communication mechanism
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishing an individual communication mechanism
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Australia is also a party to the individual communications mechanisms under the CAT and the CERD. For further information see human rights communications.

The Australian Government also supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Persons as a non-legally binding document.

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