Facts & Figures

• Since 1945, the concept of human rights has increasingly become universally recognised as a basic tenet of international law and a legitimate subject for discussion between states.

• The seminal notion that human beings are endowed – purely by reason of their humanity – with certain fundamental and inalienable rights, benefits and protections, is an idea which has existed to various degrees in all societies.

• The role which the UN system has played in the post-war period in securing the promotion and protection of human rights cannot be overestimated. The United Nations has devoted considerable time, resources and effort to the promotion of human rights, both through its role in the drafting of human rights instruments and through the ongoing focus it places on human rights situations throughout the world.

• The promotion and encouragement of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is to be undertaken for all. The Charter of the United Nations endorses a universal, all-inclusive notion of human rights. Human rights do not apply only to “citizens” or “men” or particular groups, such as national minorities or the inhabitants of colonial territories, but to all persons regardless of nationality, sex, race or other status.

• The universality of human rights is closely related to the notions of equality or non-discrimination, reflected in the words without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. The elimination and prevention of discrimination has been a major objective of UN activities in the field of human rights.

• Human rights are to be advanced in a framework of international co-operation. Human rights are matters of concern beyond national borders and their promotion and protection an obligation of the international community.

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), although not a legally binding treaty, is regarded as the most fundamental expression of international human rights standards. It was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.”

• A common claim made about civil and political rights is that they are “negative” rights; that the State is simply required to refrain from action interfering with the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness and prosperity.

• Economic, social and cultural rights, it is claimed, are “positive” or “distributive” rights; an active response is required by the State to devise and implement strategies and programmes and to commit resources to promote the progressive realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.

• Critics of collective rights have argued that individual and collective rights are inherently irreconcilable. Increasingly it is accepted that individual and collective rights are concerned with conceptually distinct claims and can exist concurrently. Collective rights can be interpreted and applied in a manner consistent with individual human rights.

• Iraq and the “war on terror” have obscured the greatest human rights challenge of our times. According to some sources, developing countries spend about US$22 billion a year on weapons and, for $10 billion dollars a year, they would achieve universal primary education. These statistics hide a huge scandal: the failed promise to attack extreme poverty and address gross economic and social injustice.

• According to some analysts, there is a real risk that the targets of UN Millennium Development Goals – such as the reduction of child and maternal mortality, getting all children to primary school, halving the number of people with no access to clean water – will not be achieved because international attention and resources have been diverted to the “war on terror”.

• The poor and the marginalized are most commonly denied justice and would benefit most from the fair application of the rule of law and human rights. Yet despite the increasing discourse on the indivisibility of human rights, in reality economic, social and cultural rights are neglected, reducing human rights to a theoretical construct for the vast majority of the world’s population.

• Human rights are an inseparable part of Australia’s overall foreign policy approach, both because the treatment of individuals is of itself a matter of concern to Australians and because promoting and protecting human rights underpins Australia’s broader security and economic interests. The Government’s policies are based on the universality of fundamental human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural.

• In Australia today, there are a number of important ways in which the rights of individuals are promoted and protected; it is a complex, evolving mosaic but some of the key elements are:
– centuries of common law (inherited from England);
– the Australian Constitution and the Constitutions of the States;
– statutory laws, especially Federal and State anti-discrimination laws;
– an independent judiciary;
– democratically elected governments;
– a free media;
– strong civil society; and
– bodies like the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission created especially to advance and protect human rights.

• It is a well-known fact that Australia does not have a Bill of Rights. In fact, it has been argued that this relative neglect of civil liberties puts us at odds with other first world countries with which we traditionally compare ourselves. Many countries now feature a Bill of Rights – famously of course the USA, but also Britain, the European Union, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, to name but a few.