International organisations

Australia commends Suriname for taking steps towards amending the Military Penal Code to abolish the death penalty.  

Australia welcomes the actions taken on human rights by Papua New Guinea since its last UPR appearance. This includes efforts to address gender-based violence and progress critical legislation to improve women’s lives, and the passage of legislation in 2020 to establish an Independent Commission Against Corruption. Australia encourages Papua New Guinea to realise the rights to health and education by allocating sufficient resources to improve outcomes and by continuing to prioritise COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

The 39th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a United Nations process that considers the human rights record of each UN Member State. It is a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council.

The Multilateral Placements Program, including the UN Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Program, provides multilateral organisations with funding to place Australian professionals in positions across the multilateral system.

The human rights situation in Yemen is dire. The fourth report by the UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen outlines a litany of human rights violations and abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law by parties to the conflict including those involving indiscriminate and disproportionate airstrikes and shelling, attacks on medical facilities and schools, failing to abide by international humanitarian law principles, humanitarian restrictions such as obstacles to access to food and healthcare, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, gender-based violence, including sexual violence, torture, denial of fair trial rights, persecution of and violations and abuses against journalists, human rights defenders, persons belonging to minorities, migrants, internally displaced persons and shocking violations and abuses of children's rights in the period July 2020 to June 2021.

Mr Chair, I have the honour of delivering this statement on behalf of Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and my own country Australia. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our strong support for the Human Rights Council and to thank the President of the Human Rights Council for her report to the plenary and her interactive engagement with the Third Committee.

More than a year has passed since the people of Belarus saw their hopes to elect a democratically elected leader of the country brutally dashed

Australia is deeply troubled by continued executions in Iran, including of juvenile offenders, and notes that Iran continues to carry out the death penalty at one of the highest rates in the world. We urge Iran to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.

Australia is deeply concerned about the situation in Myanmar and agrees with the Special Rapporteur’s assessment that the situation is worsening and continues to threaten regional stability.

Australia is deeply concerned about the situation in Myanmar, as highlighted in the report and condemns ongoing human rights abuses by the regime. Humanitarian needs have surged, including in already conflict-affected and displaced communities such as the Rohingya in Rakhine State.