UPR: 120+ UN Member States call on Australia to better protect human rights
Australia is falling short of respecting and protecting human rights. On Monday night at Australia’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council 120+ countries called on the Albanese Government to better protect the rights of First Nations people, children, and refugees, implement a Human Rights Act, and tackle the gender-based violence.
Perhaps the most telling is that, despite our status as a founding member of the UN and one of eight nations involved in drafting the UDHR, 77 years later we remain a global outlier – we are the only Western liberal democracy bereft of a national framework to legally protect the internationally recognised rights and freedoms of all Australians.
The absence of an Australian Human Rights Act leaves human rights at the periphery of the work of government instead of at its heart – all too often the promises we are bound to uphold as a nation that claims to respect the rules based international legal order, are not considered, or are overtly ignored in our laws, policies and the delivery of services to our communities.
Australia has the resources to lead the world on human right protections. Australians deserve governments with the vision and will to walk the talk on our international commitments.
Key recommendations include calls to:
– #RaiseTheAge to at least 14,
– implement an Australian Human Rights Act,
– strengthen measures against discrimination based on race, religion, migration status, sexual orientation, and gender identity,
– intensify efforts to address gender-based and domestic violence,
– continue to implement the National Disability Strategy 2021-2031,
– strengthen action to prevent contemporary forms of slavery,
– strengthen the protection of the rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, particularly by limiting the use of detention
The full statements, including the recommendations made by each country, are available to download here
The review validates 170+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights, legal, disability, refugee, LGBTIQA+ and climate organisations – including ALHR who submitted a joint UPR shadow report to the UN in July 2025. The Review also validates the specific concerns raised by ALHR in its shadow report to the UN specifically focused on a selection of issues relating to women and girls’ human rights.
Our recommendations and those of other civil society organisations and the Australian Human Rights Commission are cited in a summary report prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ahead of Australia’s appearance here
ALHR commends the work of the organisations who coordinated the Joint NGO Report on behalf of the Australian NGO Coalition: Human Rights Law Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre, @Indigenous Peoples Organisation Australia, and Community Legal Centres Australia as well as all organisations who travelled to Geneva to ensure Australia’s human rights failures were highlighted.