International Law & Human Rights
6. The United Nations
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 05 Aug 2015
- The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) accepts complaints from individuals about their country's breaches of human rights.
- These complaints are known as Communications.
- A Communication usually takes around 4 years to consider and the Council’s decision is not binding.
- The Council can declare that the country is in breach of its human rights obligations but they cannot enforce any of their recommendations.
- The Council’s recommendations about breaches (including to Australia) have in the past been ignored and even rejected.
- The Council’s main effectiveness is in placing pressure on countries to stick to the legal obligations contained in the treaties that they have signed.
- The rights which people in Australia can make individual complaints about are those included in:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT);
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD);
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); and
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
- Communications must be made in writing and must not be anonymous.
- Some treaties such as CAT and CEDAW have their own Committees which accept individual complaints and the Communications should be sent to them rather than the Human Rights Council.
- Each treaty will indicate which Committee you can direct Communications to and whether or not Australia has authorised this.
- The relevant Committee will determine:
- whether the Communication is admissible based on whether you have exhausted all the domestic options; and
- whether your Complaint is successful on its merits (legal arguments).
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