Human rights

Australia thanks the Special Rapporteur for his presentation and welcomes his report identifying factors that render displaced persons vulnerable to slavery.

We thank the High Commissioner for her oral update on the human rights situation in Nicaragua. The escalation of human rights violations as the November elections approach is particularly worrisome.

We thank the Special Rapporteur for his report, including his recommendations to member states and the wider international community on how to establish judicial and non-judicial measures to ensure accountability for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

We commend the IIMM’s important work collecting, preserving and analysing evidence of killings, violence and detentions, including those perpetrated in Rakhine State, and following the 1 February coup. The number of deaths, detentions and disappearances continues to rise in Myanmar, as do reports of torture, sexual violence and persecution.

Our group expresses its deep concern over the desperate situation of journalists and media workers in Afghanistan over the last few weeks.

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the promotion and protection of human rights globally.  Australia is deeply concerned that States have used the shield of the pandemic to target human rights defenders, civil society, health workers, and journalists.

We remain gravely concerned by ongoing violence in northern Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government and regional authorities' cutting off of Tigray - and the TPLF's expansion of the conflict into neighboring regions - have caused a humanitarian catastrophe

Australia expresses its grave concerns about the situation in Afghanistan. We remain committed to helping Afghanistan to build a stable and secure future.

31st Special Session of the Human Rights Council