UN human rights
committees critique
Australia's human rights
remedies
In 1997 the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that "there is no right of citizens to launch complaints in the local courts on the basis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child" [in Australia]. Click here to read the rest of the Committee's comments.
The UN Human Rights Committee which monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights noted in 2000 that "[t]here are still areas in which the domestic legal system does not provide an effective remedy to persons whose rights under the Covenant have been violated" and recommended that Australia "should take measures to give effect to all Covenant rights and freedoms". Click here to see the Commission's report on the Human Rights Committee's review of Australia which quotes the Committee's concluding observations.
Similarly, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern "over the absence from Australian law of any entrenched guarantee against racial discrimination that would override subsequent law of the Commonwealth, states and territories" (also in 2000). Click here to read all this committee's comments about Australia.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed regret that "because the [International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights] has not been entrenched as law in the domestic legal order, its provisions cannot be invoked before a court of law" (also in 2000). Click here to read the full report from this committee.
Last updated 08 March 2006.
