Ryan: Human Rights submission to 2020 Summit

Australia must put into practice domestically what in preaches internationally in respect of human rights says Susan Ryan in her submission to the 2020 summit.

For Australia to maximise its potential as a force for humanity, tolerance, safety and fairness in our region and the world, we need to balance laws dealing with security threats by an Australian Human Rights Act or Charter.

Such a charter would strengthen our institutional arrangements, requiring all national laws and actions of government agencies to reflect thorough consideration of human rights affected by necessary security measures.

As a society that clearly protected the rights of its citizens and others in this country by a specific law, we would signal to the rest of the world our determination to maintain our democratic way of life in the face of all threats to them.

A charter embodying Australia’s existing responsibilities under the UN rights treaties and conventions already ratified would protect people in Australia against:

• children being held in detention
• asylum seekers detained indefinitely
• arrest without charge
• arrest and detention without access to legal representation
• unwarranted invasion of privacy
• restriction on freedoms of speech, religion, cultural identity
• discrimination, especially against the mentally ill, children and the frail aged
• capital punishment,
• torture

A charter should strengthen rights to fairness, dignity and due process in all dealings with the state.

For indigenous and other disadvantaged minorities, a charter should strengthen rights to education, health, social security and equality before the law. The right to work and the right to collective bargaining should also be protected.

A charter should be founded on the principle of parliamentary sovereignty and require the parliament to become an active monitor and defender of human rights. A charter should not give the courts new powers to strike out or amend laws. Those powers should remain with the elected parliament and the parliament would decide when national security required a suspension of rights.

Australia would enhance its capacity to deal internationally by confirming its position on the protection of human rights and thus demonstrating that such rights are universal. Australia’s past acquiescence to the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay has diminished our capacity in this regard.

When our own indigenous citizens suffer extreme poverty, partly as a consequence of inadequate attention to the rights discussed here, our international efforts to assist in the eradication of poverty are undermined.

Australia had a long and proud history in relation UN human rights treaties and development programs and gained the word’s respect for its leadership here. That respect in recent years has been damaged.

The limitations of the common law and our institutions to protect rights in a climate of terrorism and increased world movements of refugees and asylum seekers became evident and were not corrected.

The implementation of an Australian Human Rights act or Charter would help repair that damage.

2020 Summit submission by Susan Ryan, March 2008