International organisations

Australia stands with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment. We support calls by the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a prompt, impartial investigation into the tragic death of Mahsa Amini. Those responsible must be held to account.

Australia remains gravely concerned by continuing and widespread human rights violations perpetrated by the DPRK Government.

The recent commemoration of World Day Against the Death Penalty is a reminder that Belarus remains the only country in Europe that retains and applies the death penalty for certain serious crimes.

Australia remains gravely concerned about the attacks against ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, which have claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent Afghan people since the Taliban takeover.

We call on all states to repeal laws that criminalise persons on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, with urgent attention on abolishing the death penalty.

We share concerns expressed by the Commission in its most recent report regarding the dire humanitarian situation in Syria, as living conditions deteriorate to their worst since the start of the conflict.

We do not support the proposition that Israel is the only country that is a permanent item on the HRC agenda, which is why Australia does not and will not engage in Item 7 of the Council’s debate and why we retain our fundamental concerns about the nature of the Commission of Inquiry.

We are gravely concerned by the violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of humanitarian and criminal law documented in the report, including sexual and gender-based violence, extrajudicial killings, and the use of starvation against civilian populations.

Too often, people with disabilities are left out of crisis planning, evacuation and humanitarian efforts and can be, as this report describes, “absolutely invisible” in conflict prevention and peacebuilding activities.

Climate change is already having significant impacts in Australia and the Pacific. It poses an existential threat for our region - threatening cultural heritage, livelihoods and security.