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43 Alternative L.J. 3 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/alterlj43 and id is 1 raw text is: Opinion Australia at the Human Rights Council Alternative Low journal 2018, Vol. 43(1) 3 @ The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.ukl/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10. 1177/1037969X 17752007 journals.sagepub.com/home/altl *SAGE Phil Lynch 2018 is a major year for international human rights, marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. For Australia, 2018 will be significant too, as the country takes its first ever seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council for a three-year term. Australia's ascent to the Council comes at a critical time; a time at which the work of human rights defenders globally has perhaps never been more important nor more imperilled. As civil society space closes at the national level, and defenders are criminalised, imprisoned and even killed - from China to Egypt, from Russia to Venezuela, and from Burundi to the Philippines - more and more defenders are seeking to use the international system to expose violations, to push for accountability, to obtain justice and protection, and as a lever for change. International civil society has high expectations of Australia as a Council member. We are a country with an overall strong record in building the UN human rights system and a rules-based international order, notwith- standing obvious gross departures when it comes to the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons and communities. Looking back at the end of Australia's term in 2021, these expectations will likely be met if Australia's time on the Council is characterised by three key elements. First, Australia should consult closely with civil society - both at the national and international levels - in developing its policies and positions at the Council. Independent civil society can provide vital information and advice about the human rights situation on the ground and how best to address human rights challenges and violations. With human rights defenders around the world facing what the UN Special Rapporteur has described as 'unprecedented attack', Australia should also prioritise protecting defen- ders and promoting a safe and enabling environment for their work at the national, regional and international levels. Second, in seeking election to the Council, Australia pledged to focus on upholding freedom of expression, strengthening governance and democratic institutions, advancing women's rights, and protecting indigenous rights, among other things. Australia should operationalise this pledge by leading and supporting country-specific initiatives at the Council where these values and groups are under attack. This means leading or supporting state- ments or resolutions where freedom of expression is crim- inalised, such as in Burundi or Bahrain, where democracy and the rule of law are systematically subverted, such as in China or Venezuela, where women human rights defenders are attacked and abused, such as in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, or where peoples are driven from their lands, such as in Myanmar or Honduras. Like-minded States have shown what is possible through principled leadership. At the Council's 35th session in June 2017, Iceland led a joint state- ment on extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, while at the Council's 36th session in September the Netherlands spearheaded a resolution to establish an international investigation into war crimes in Yemen. Australia, by con- trast, has a mixed-record at best when it comes to address- ing country situations - soft pedalling on accountability for gross human rights violations in countries such as Sri Lanka and Cambodia where Australia's refugee and asylum seeker policy had a craven distorting effect on foreign policy. Civil society organisations have diminishing patience for States that espouse a rhetorical commitment to thematic human rights issues - such as the protection of defenders, freedom of expression or peaceful assembly - but that fail to take up those issues in concrete situations where perceived polit- ical, economic or other interests may be at stake. Finally, Australia's term will be deemed a success if it uses the opportunity of Council membership to critically assess and improve its own human rights record, and takes seriously its obligations as a Council member to 'uphold the highest standards' and cooperate fully with the Council and other UN human rights mechanisms. It is in the national interest that Council membership is used as a catalyst and circuit breaker to address the profound socio-economic disadvantage and political disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples and to devise a refugee and asylum seeker policy that is decent, humane and complies with international law. Phil Lynch is Director of the International Service for Human Rights (www.ishr.ch). Follow him on Twitter @PhilALynch. Corresponding author: Phil Lynch, International Service for Human Rights, PO Box 16, CH- Email: p.lynch@ishr.ch 1211 Geneva 20 CIC, Switzerland.

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