The choice of Philip Ruddock to represent Australia internationally on human rights issues makes as much sense as appointing a cigarette company CEO to champion health, writes Greg Barns.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was rightly aghast at his predecessor Tony Abbott's offer of a knighthood for Prince Philip early last year.

It was a "captain's pick" Mr Abbott said. Is the appointment of retiring Liberal MP Philip Ruddock as Special Envoy for Human Rights Mr Turnbull's own captain's pick? If it is then it is as seriously misguided as Mr Abbott's.

Philip Ruddock and human rights are not generally used in the same sentence these days except in the context of searing criticism about his role as immigration minister in the creation and expansion of cruel immigration detention centres in places like Woomera and Baxter in South Australia and Nauru during the early 2000s.

Under Mr Ruddock the mental and physical harm endured by asylum seekers was horrendous. Mr Ruddock's hard line detention policies attracted the ire of international NGO Human Rights Watch and it wrote to Mr Ruddock on January 25, 2002 indicating it was "deeply concerned about reports that Australia is detaining child asylum seekers in poor conditions for long periods of time".

Justice Paul Finn, in a lengthy landmark 2005 Federal Court judgment, described in detail the suffering of two men at the Baxter detention centre and the grossly inadequate healthcare arrangements for asylum seekers.

The former chief justice of India, Justice Bhagwati, after a visit to Australia in 2002 as Regional Advisor for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, concluded "that the human rights situation of persons in immigration detention in Australia is a matter of serious concern".

The choice of Mr Ruddock to represent Australia internationally on human rights issues makes as much sense as appointing a cigarette company CEO to champion health.

Australia's human rights record internationally has taken a dive in recent years, largely due to the policies Mr Ruddock and his successors on both sides of politics have executed. The brutal treatment of asylum seekers has tarnished this nation and if we are to have a Human Rights Envoy then it ought to be someone with a credible track record and who is not politically partisan.

A person who can hopefully provide feedback to the Turnbull government and Labor opposition that says Australia needs to lift its human rights game. Here are four such persons.

Michael Kirby

The former High Court judge and the often lone humanitarian voice on that court in recent years is an ideal human rights envoy.

Mr Kirby has diplomacy experience. His biography notes that in the mid-1990s he was Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia. In 2013-14 he chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea. His advocacy on human rights issues is respected throughout the world. He would have been Mr Turnbull's perfect choice.

Gillian Triggs

As president of the Human Rights Commission, Professor Triggs has exposed the appalling human rights abuses of Australia's immigration detention system. She is resolute and tough, having endured undermining and bullying from the Abbott government and its friends in the media. Her profound knowledge of international law (she is the author of the leading text on the work in Australia) would be invaluable.

Ian Chappell

The former Australian cricket captain and now commentator has a strong social conscience. He joined A Just Australia, an advocacy group with which I was associated more than a decade ago and spoke articulately and regularly about giving asylum seekers a fair go.

Mr Chappell has an eye for justice and fairness. Sporting icons as envoys for their nation is not a novel concept and Mr Chappell's name and good standing is still strong in key nations such as the UK and India.

Mick Dodson

From 1993 to 1998 Mick Dodson was the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission. He was also one of the leading figures in drafting the UN treaty on the rights of Indigenous people.

As a lawyer and advocate of Indigenous Australia, Mr Dodson has shown a great capacity to work with all colours on the political rainbow. Critically, he is well regarded internationally.

Greg Barns is a barrister and a spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance.