International Law & Human Rights
4. Human Rights Commission
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 05 Aug 2015
- Under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) the AHRC has the power to investigate alleged breaches of ‘human rights’ by the Commonwealth Government.
- The legislation narrowly defines the scope of the Commission’s powers and the types of human rights breach it can investigate.
- The rights that the Commission is empowered to deal with are those found in:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC);
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD);
- Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (Religion Declaration).
- The complaint needs to be made in writing using the specified complaint form. This form is available in hard copy and online from the AHRC website: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/complaints/make-complaint.
- Your complaint will be investigated and the Commission may ask you for more details.
- The Commission will then attempt to solve the problem through conciliation.
- Conciliation is a flexible private process that involves settling a dispute with the assistance of a neutral third party called a conciliator.
- This may occur through:
- a face-to-face meeting with the parties;
- an exchange of letters; or
- a telephone conference.
- If the conciliation fails and the President of the Commission is believes there is enough evidence to support your claim that a breach of human rights has occurred the President is required to make a report of the matter to the federal Attorney-General.
- The report must then be tabled in Parliament.
- It should be noted that although the Commission may declare a breach of human rights such a breach is not unlawful and the complainant does not have a right to compensation.
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