{"id":19619,"date":"2016-01-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/australia-criticised-in-human-rights-watch-report\/"},"modified":"2016-01-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T00:00:00","slug":"australia-criticised-in-human-rights-watch-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/news\/australia-criticised-in-human-rights-watch-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia cops a whack in Human Rights Watch report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia has been heavily criticised in a 659-page document called the World Report 2016 Human Rights Watch.<\/h3>\n

Australia was slammed for its \u201cappalling\u201d treatment of refugees, but was also judged to be failing in several other areas, including indigenous health, disability rights, foreign policy and counterterrorism laws.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s international reputation is suffering, according to deputy director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s Asia Phil Robertson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlready throughout southeast Asia countries I cover, we\u2019re seeing diplomats from North America and Europe looking askance at Australia, and questioning whether human rights are any longer an integral part of Canberra\u2019s foreign policy,\u201d Mr Robertson told news.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt meetings in diplomatic circles in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, Hanoi and elsewhere, mention of Australia\u2019s foreign policy and human rights now brings a dropping of the eyes and shaking of heads in diplomatic circles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Where Australia is going wrong, according to the World Report 2016 Human Rights Watch:<\/h3>\n

Asylum Seekers and Refugees<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Nauru<\/p>\n

Nauru detention centre | Image | The Australian<\/a><\/h6>\n

\u201cAustralia outsources some of its obligations to asylum seekers and refugees to poorer, less well-equipped, and unsafe countries such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Australia has also returned several boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and Vietnam, despite their poor rights records. Australia has also towed boats carrying asylum seekers back to Indonesia, endangering lives, and in May, Indonesian police and asylum seekers accused Australian officials of paying more than US$30,000 to people-smugglers to turn a boat back to Indonesia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counterterrorism Laws<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia has adopted extensive and overly broad new counterterrorism laws in response to the threat of \u201chome-grown terrorism.\u201d Amendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Act in October 2014 criminalize disclosure of information \u201cthat relates to a special intelligence operation\u201d punishable by 5 or 10 years imprisonment. The offenses will have a chilling effect on whistleblowers, human rights defenders, and journalists, and impede reporting that fosters legitimate public debate and is in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indigenous Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn February, the prime minister\u2019s \u201cClose the Gap\u201d report highlighted the continued disadvantages that indigenous Australians face. While there were modest improvements in education and health outcomes, there was little progress on closing the life expectancy gap. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples still live on average 10-12 years less than non-indigenous Australians, have an infant mortality rate almost two times higher, and continue to die at alarmingly high rates from treatable and preventable conditions such as diabetes and respiratory illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disability Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWomen and girls with disabilities in Australia face higher rates of violence in the community and in institutional settings than other women and girls. Some face coerced sterilization and forced psychiatric interventions. To date, the Australian government has done little to address such violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia rarely raises concerns publicly about human rights violations in countries with which it cooperates on border protection matters, or in countries with which it has significant trade relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can read the report\u2019s full chapter on Australian on the Human Rights Watch website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: THIS AUSTRALIA DAY INCIDENT SHOCKED EVERYONE WHO SAW IT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: WHAT OFFICIALS REALLY THINK OF AUSTRALIA\u2019S TENNIS BRATS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia has been heavily criticised in a 659-page document called the World Report 2016 Human Rights Watch. Australia was slammed for its \u201cappalling\u201d treatment of refugees, but was also judged to be failing in several other areas, including indigenous health, disability rights, foreign policy and counterterrorism laws. Australia\u2019s international reputation is suffering, according to deputy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-19619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia cops a whack in Human Rights Watch report - FIVEAA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/news\/australia-criticised-in-human-rights-watch-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia cops a whack in Human Rights Watch report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Australia has been heavily criticised in a 659-page document called the World Report 2016 Human Rights Watch. Australia was slammed for its \u201cappalling\u201d treatment of refugees, but was also judged to be failing in several other areas, including indigenous health, disability rights, foreign policy and counterterrorism laws. 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