Asylum-seeker policies, counter-terrorism laws and Indigenous prisoners will also come under the spotlight

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Australia will defend its human rights record and asylum-seeker policies when officials front a United Nations anti-torture inquiry in Geneva on Monday night.



The UN committee against torture will review Australia’s record as a convention signatory; it is the first assessment since 2008.

Asylum-seeker policies, controversial counter-terrorism laws and the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in prisons will be discussed.

Australia’s report to the committee was submitted by the previous Labor government in July last year.

It argued safeguards were in place to ensure that removal of asylum seekers who were not found to be genuine refugees to their home country did not breach Australia’s non-refoulement obligations.

Last week Amnesty International raised concerns with the committee about the Abbott government’s push to fast-track a backlog of refugee applications.

The move could result in people being screened, reviewed and deported within a month.

The government will get a chance to provide supplementary material after Australian officials face the committee.

Fifteen bureaucrats from the Immigration, Foreign Affairs and Attorney General’s departments, with representatives from Australia’s permanent mission to the UN, will attend the hearing. The UN committee is set to hand down its report card on 28 November.