Progress Made to Reform UN Treaty Bodies

Following a meeting in Geneva between the Attorney-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, the Australian Government is pleased to release a progress report of Australia's efforts to reform UN human rights treaty bodies.

The Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade report sets out Australia's achievements in improving the workings of the UN human rights treaty bodies, including the momentum generated for continued reform.

Australia has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the effectiveness of the UN human rights treaty to focus their operation on the most serious human rights problems.

By working closely with member states, many of the ideas Australia put forward now form part of mainstream discussions on UN human rights reform.

The importance of treaty body reform is now widely accepted by UN member states, the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office, and, increasingly by members of the treaty bodies themselves. In addition, at the 2005 UN Summit, world leaders resolved to improve the effectiveness of these bodies.

While significant progress has been made much remains to be done. Committees can still be too prescriptive on how states should implement their obligations; harmonised reporting guidelines need to be introduced; and work still needs to be done to ensure information and views provided by NGOs are properly considered.

Australia remains firmly committed to improving the effectiveness of the treaty bodies. We look forward to working with the High Commissioner for Human Rights as she plans an intergovernmental meeting this year to consider further reform initiatives.

The report, Reform of the United Nations Treaty Body System: Australian Initiatives is available.

Inquiries: Chris Kenny (Mr Downer's office) 02 62777 500 - Charlie McKillop (Mr Ruddock's office) 02 6277 7300