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United Nations

Our historical involvement

As a founding member of the United Nations, Australia has long supported the UN’s key role in world affairs. The United Nations officially came into being on 24 October 1945 following the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco on 26 June that year. It replaced the League of Nations, which was created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Australia was an active participant at the 1945 San Francisco Conference, during which the UN Charter was negotiated. Australia’s delegation, led by then Deputy Prime Minister Mr FM Forde and Minister for External Affairs Dr HV Evatt, played a significant role in drafting the charter.

Since 1945, the conduct of Australian foreign policy has been informed by the underlying principles and purposes of the United Nations: to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, and to achieve global cooperation. Australia regards the United Nations as an essential forum through which to influence world affairs, promote a stable international framework, defend Australia’s security and sovereignty, pursue trade and economic interests and promote Australian values.

Australia has made important contributions to UN activity for more than 60 years, including in the areas of peace and security, human rights, development assistance and social, economic and environmental affairs. Australia has been a member of theUN Security Council on four occasions: 1946–47, 1956–57, 1973–74 and 1985–86.

Australia is a founding member of and active participant in many UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations hildren’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Democracy Fund. Australia has been a member of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space since its establishment in 1959 and president of the World Health Assembly from May 2007 until May 2008. Australia was the first chair of the UN Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation in 1955 and most recently the chair in 2006–07, and vice president of the UNICEF Executive Board for 2007.

Reflecting the advanced state of Australian nuclear science and technology and its position as a major uranium exporter, Australia has been a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors continuously since the agency’s inception in 1957. Australia continues to be one of the leading advocates of agency safeguards, particularly through promotion of the Additional Protocol on strengthened safeguards.

Australia participated in the first peacekeeping operation under UN auspices in 1947—the UN Consular Commission to Indonesia. Since then, Australia has participated in more than 30 UN peacekeeping and peace monitoring operations, including in Korea, the Middle East and Cambodia.

Australians and the United Nations

Against the backdrop of Australia’s strong national commitment to the United Nations since 1945, individual Australians have made important contributions to the organisation. In 1948, Dr HV Evatt was elected third president of the General Assembly, and was the first chair of the UN Atomic Energy Commission and chair of the Palestine Commission. As a member of the Security Council in 1946, Australia provided the first president, Mr NJO Makin. Other Australians who have served in senior positions in the UN system include:

Recent appointments of Australians to the UN include:

Australia’s UN agenda

Pursuing its national interests, Australia plays an active role in multilateral conferences and negotiations on disarmament, counterterrorism, migration, development, humanitarian assistance, human rights and the environment. Australia is also represented on a range of specialised UN agencies. It is currently on the International Maritime Organization Council and a member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the UN Environment Programme Governing Council, the International Telecommunications Union and the World Meteorological Organization.

Australia’s Security Council candidacy

In March 2008, Australia announced that it would seek a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2013 to 2014 term. Australia last sat on the Security Council in 1986. The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the United Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. The Security Council plays a critical role in addressing many of the serious challenges facing today’s world.

Australia is committed to helping tackle the difficult global issues that no one country can resolve on its own, including climate change, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, conflict prevention and international development.

General Assembly committees

The UN General Assembly is composed of six main committees which convene each year:

  1. Disarmament and International Security (First Committee)
  2. Economic and Financial (Second Committee)
  3. Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third Committee)
  4. Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth Committee)
  5. Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth Committee)
  6. Legal (Sixth Committee).

Australia pursues its specific international concerns through these committees.

Some of Australia’s current UN priorities

East Timor

In recent years, Australia has devoted considerable effort to restoring peace and stability to East Timor through UN mechanisms. Australia assisted the UN popular consultation process and led INTERFET, the multinational force tasked by the Security Council to promote security.

Australia was a major contributor to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor and the UN Mission of Support in East Timor, providing funding, personnel and logistical support for the UN presence. Australia participated in UNOTIL, the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste, and is currently involved tracing of small arms and light weapons. The aim of the instrument is to combat the illicit trade in small arms by tracing illicit weapons.

Australia is proud to be one of the co-authors of UN General Assembly Resolution 61/89, ‘Towards an Arms Trade Treaty’. The resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority, and a record number of UN member states responded to the call to submit their views on the scope, feasibility and parameters of an arms trade treaty to the UN Secretary General. Australia believes that a well-crafted, legally binding instrument would help prevent irresponsible transfers of all conventional weapons, while providing greater assurances for legitimate trade.

Human rights

Since the establishment of the United Nations, Australia has been a vocal proponent of human rights and democratic principles. Australia’s efforts to advance key human rights priorities through the Third Committee are outlined at www.dfat.gov.au/hr.

Although not currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (the pre-eminent UN human rights body), Australia participates actively in the council’s discussions. Australia had a similar profile in the former UN Commission on Human Rights, where Australia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva served as president in 2004 and vice-president in 2003.

International Criminal Court

Australia was at the forefront of efforts to establish a permanent International Criminal Court with the capacity to investigate and prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. As a party to six of the major UN treaties on international human in UNMIT, the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste. Australia leads the international security force deployed after the April–May 2006 crisis to support UNMIT in restoring and maintaining security.

Security and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation

Australia places a high priority both on preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and on working towards their eventual elimination. Australia supported UN Security Council resolutions addressing Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Australia is a constructive participant across the full range of UN nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. Australia has promoted entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty. Australia actively pursues a non-proliferation agenda in the International Atomic Energy Agency, including through promotion of the agency’s strengthened system for safeguards and verification.

Conventional weapons

Australia places a high priority on preventing the illicit proliferation of small arms. Australia’s strong domestic policies and legislation complement its support for and active participation in regional and international initiatives such as the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons. Australia supported establishment of an international instrument on the marking and protecting the environment.

Australia also strongly supports the key recommendations of the High-Level Panel on UN System-Wide Coherence, including the ‘One UN’ model, which aims to increase the effectiveness of aid delivery and improve development results on the ground, and the proposal for a new entity to specifically oversee gender equality in UN programs and improve and empower the lives of women in developing countries.

Global development

The UN system offers Australia the opportunity to cooperate with the widest possible range of countries in pursuing global development. The United Nations and its specialised agencies extend the reach of Australia’s aid program. Their global presence and universal membership enable them to undertake projects on a scale and with a degree of independence that would not be possible for Australia to achieve bilaterally.

There are roughly 38 UN organizations dealing with development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. The aid program’s key areas of engagement focus on HIV/AIDS, basic education, health and humanitarian assistance—areas in which the United Nations has specialised knowledge and expertise. UNICEF, the UN Development Programme and the UN Population Fund are Australia’s principal UN development agency partners.

Humanitarian assistance

Australia has significant engagement with UN humanitarian agencies and programs. Australia has contributed to the debate on humanitarian reform, and supported the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund since its inception in 2005. Australia is an active rights, Australia regularly submits reports on its human rights record for review by relevant UN monitoring bodies.

Indigenous issues

Indigenous peoples’ rights are an important concern for Australia. Australia was closely involved in the inception of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and has continued to support the forum’s efforts to promote Indigenous issues.

Gender equality and women’s rights

The advancement of gender equality and women’s rights has also been a longstanding concern for Australia. Australian political activist Jessie Street was the sole woman on Australia’s delegation to the 1945 San Francisco Conference which drafted the UN Charter. Lady Street lobbied to ensure the charter recognised women as equal participants and was instrumental in establishing the Commission on the Status of Women in 1946.

Her legacy was continued by Australian jurist Elizabeth Evatt, who was a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Australia continues to advocate for gender equality through its support for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, an ambitious agenda for women’s empowerment that was adopted at the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women in 1995.

UN reform

Australia is committed to reform of the United Nations to make it more effective and efficient, including in fighting poverty, providing humanitarian assistance and environment, chemicals and ozone. Australia is also supportive of current efforts to improve the management of environmental issues in the UN system, including informal UN General Assembly consultations and practical reforms of the UN Environment Programme, to deliver better environmental outcomes.

Australia’s financial contribution to the United Nations

The UN system is funded by member states’ dues and voluntary contributions and through donations from the private sector, other national and multilateral agencies, and individuals. Member states’ dues are calculated based on total gross national product and other factors including per capita income and population. Australia is the 13th largest contributor to the UN regular budget and to the funding for UN peacekeeping operations.

Australia’s assessed share of the UN regular budget, international tribunals, capital master plan (to renovate the UN conference and secretariat facilities in New York) and peacekeeping missions is currently 1.787 per cent of the total (approximately US$141.2 million per annum). Australia also provides voluntary funding to many UN agencies. The level of support to UN agencies is based on their relevance to the priorities of Australia’s aid program, their focus on the Asia–Pacific region, and their continued effective performance.

In 2007–08, Australia will provide $80 million for core funding to UN development agencies, compared with $70 million in 2006–07. Including non-core support, roughly 10 per cent of Australia’s official development assistance is delivered through UN agencies. The United Nations itself conducts over member on the boards and donor support groups for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme and UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Australia has recently increased its focus on the role of disaster risk reduction in achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction, and announced a package of support for the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s Asia–Pacific program.

The environment

Australia is committed to the development of an efficient, effective and equitable solution to climate change. As the first act of the new government, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the instrument of ratification for the Kyoto Protocol. Australia participated actively in the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December 2007 and will continue to work constructively and exercise leadership in the UN negotiations towards a post-2012 arrangement, including as permanent chair of the Umbrella Group of countries.

Australia strongly supports the need for better conservation and management of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and has been a prominent advocate in the UN General Assembly over the past decade of the need to strengthen high seas governance arrangements. Australia led efforts at the 61st General Assembly to achieve international agreement on regulating bottom fisheries to prevent significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Australia has been actively involved in the UN Environment Programme since its formation in 1973, including through the provision of funding. Issues in which Australia has been particularly active include cleaner production, sustainable consumption, marine 10 per cent of total development activities around the globe and received around US$15.5 billion in contributions for its development cooperation activities in 2005.

Australia’s diplomatic missions to the United Nations

The Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations in New York is responsible for pursuing Australia’s interests and representation at the UN General Assembly. In addition, the mission has responsibility for Australia’s interests in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the International Seabed Authority, the UN Development Programme, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, the UN Democracy Fund, the UN Development Fund for Women, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations and to the Office of the Conference on Disarmament in Switzerland is responsible for promoting Australia’s interests and representation in the full spectrum of the UN’s operations in Geneva, including the Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and UN specialised agencies such as the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.

The Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations in Vienna is responsible for a range of UN bodies including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN International Drug Control Programme, the UN Commission on International Trade Law, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the International Narcotics Control Board. The Australian High Commission in Nairobi has responsibility for promoting Australia’s interests in the UN Environment Programme, the UN Centre for Human Settlements and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The Permanent Delegation of Australia to UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris is responsible for the promotion of Australia’s interests in UNESCO.

Key Facts

Further information

This fact sheet is also available to download ( PDF)

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all dollar amounts are in Australian dollars.

last updated May 2008