Policy E4: Human Rights

1.      universal human rights must be respected and protected in all countries.

2.      economic, social, cultural, environmental, civil and political rights are universal, interdependent, and indivisible.

3.      cultural, religious, gender and other differences often give rise to specific needs and circumstances that must be taken into account in order to ensure equal rights for all.

4.      Australia to fully discharge its international human rights obligations, at home and abroad.

5.      greater international respect for and protection of human rights.

6.      stronger international machinery for the protection of human rights, such as the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations treaty bodies.

7.      adopt Australia's international human rights obligations into domestic law and enact an Australian Bill of Rights.

8.      fully resource the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, expand its mandate to reflect the full range of Australia's international human rights undertakings and reinstate its capacity to determine Australian human rights complaints.

9.      reform Australia's 'counter-terrorism' legislation, especially with regard to freedom of expression and association, freedom from arbitrary detention, legal due process, and privacy.

10. repeal sedition laws.

11. reform Australia's Migration Regulations, especially with regard to freedom from arbitrary detention, protection of the family unit, and other United Nations guidelines.

12. ensure that any decisions affecting human rights within Australia are necessary, proportionate, consistent with international human rights law, and imposed in a transparent and accountable manner.

13. progress legal and diplomatic efforts to protect Australian citizens subjected to mistreatment by foreign powers.

14. allow and encourage the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate alleged and potential human rights abuses in Australia, and comply with any recommendations.

15. engage with other countries to promote human rights, including the application of diplomatic and commercial pressures on regimes that violate human rights.

16. promote as a priority an end to secret detention, rendition, torture and other illegal and unconscionable acts.

17. support, through the United Nations framework, socially just reform, including democratic and economic reforms, in countries where governments are engaged in human rights abuses.

18. promote and protect the role of the International Criminal Court and encourage all nations, particularly the US, to ratify its statute.

19. ratify all United Nations Human Rights Conventions, including their optional protocols.

20. progress the conclusion of an optional protocol to facilitate the examination of individual complaints of violations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

21. oppose the death penalty in all cases and support campaigns for its abolition.