Australian Initiative to Improve the Effectiveness of the UN Treaty Committees

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Frequently Asked Questions on Australian Initiative to Reform the UN Treaty Committees

Media Release

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, Attorney-General Daryl Williams and Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock

5 April 2001

Australia will pursue a range of measures aimed at making the United Nations Treaty Committee system more efficient and workable and to increase the momentum for their reform, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, the Attorney-General, Daryl Williams and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock, announced today.

A high-level diplomatic initiative with Ministerial leadership is a key outcome of a review of the treaty committee system that the Government announced in August last year.

While this will be a long term commitment, the Australian initiative also seeks outcomes that are practical, achievable and of immediate demonstrable benefit to the committee system and the cause of international human rights.

An early priority will be to find ways to ease the current administrative burden on the committees including by developing operational guidelines that ensure shorter, clearer and more focussed reports.

Key elements of the initiative include:

Australia will host a Ministerial meeting in 2001 at the time of the United Nations General Assembly to stimulate political momentum for reform.
Australia will host a series of three workshops to look at practical ways of addressing key reform issues. This includes streamlining the operation of the committees, improving the interface between UN committees, countries and non-government organisations and developing more effective treaty body architecture for a stronger and more responsive system. We will put forward a number of practical, achievable measures to do this, which we will explore with others at the workshops.
Australia will seek election to the Commission on Human Rights for the period 2003-2005. If successful, this will increase Australia's influence on the major international human rights body. We will also more actively identify Australian candidates for positions on treaty bodies.
We will continue to press for additional resources for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, including the treaty bodies, from the UN core budget. We will also work with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and States Parties to explore means, within limited resources, of strengthening support for the treaty committees.
Australia will continue to encourage countries in our region to sign and ratify the six core human rights instruments. We will continue to provide practical and effective technical assistance to help States in our region comply with reporting obligations.
These measures reflect Australia's commitment to achieving a human rights system that can better advance the cause of international human rights by targeting offenders and engaging more constructively in dialogues with countries which, like Australia, take their obligations seriously.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs said they looked forward to working closely with their counterparts, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the treaty committees to pursue practical and timely reforms to boost the legitimacy and sustainability of the treaty committee system.

Media inquiries: Matt Francis (Mr Downer's Office) 02 6277 7500
Catherine Fitzpatrick (Mr Williams' Office) 02 6277 7300
Steve Ingram (Mr Ruddock's Office) 02 6277 7860