The United Nations says Australia's policy of deporting non-citizens who break the law breaches international obligations when those people have strong family ties here.

The ruling relates to Victorian man Stefan Nystrom, who arrived in Australia when he was a newborn baby and was deported to Sweden in 2006.

Mr Nystrom has an extensive criminal history - eight prison terms for theft, burglary, arson, drug offences and aggravated rape.

And it was this history that prompted former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone to revoke his visa.

Mr Nystrom's lawyer, Brian Walters SC, says the Australian Government must now change its ways or flout international human rights conventions.

"This has serious implications for Australia pretending to stand for human rights while doing such things," he said.

Mr Nystrom's appeal went all the way to the High Court, but after 33 years in Australia he was deported to Sweden five years ago.

His mother, Britt Nystrom, says he does not speak Swedish and hates it there.

"The only thing I'm praying and hoping for [is] that he will be returned. I mean, he's been in jail quite a few times here, so I mean he's served his sentence many times over," she said.

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) says Mr Nystrom's deportation was a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It says Australia has an obligation to help him return and it is also obliged to avoid exposing others to the same rights violation in the future.

Robert Jovicic was deported to Serbia as an undesirable non-citizen in 2004 and then eventually allowed back in because he was stateless.

His migration lawyer Michaela Byers says in the past decade hundreds or even thousands of people have been deported from Australia after breaching the good character provisions of the Migration Act.

"A lot of the families have ended up being financially crippled. Recently families have approached me; they said they sold the family house to support him, I think he was in Croatia," she said.

"So emotionally, financially, it really cripples the family members that are left in Australia, the Australian citizens."

Sorry, this audio has expired Deportations attract UN judgment on Australia's character ( Simon Lauder )

Ms Byers says the UN's decision on Mr Nystrom's case cannot be enforced.

"The current ALP government, Senator [Chris] Evans when he was minister and current [Immigration Minister Chris] Bowen have a practice of giving first-hand warnings, though if there's more than one warning been given in the past, they will cancel the visa," she said.

And Ms Byers doubts the UN decision will change the Government's practice.

"I don't believe so. Unfortunately it will just be treated as a recommendation," she said.

"I don't believe the Government will action it in any way to try and assist Mr Nystrom or anyone else in his position to come back to Australia."

But Mr Walters, who represented Mr Nystrom's family in the committee hearing, says the Federal Government's response will have serious implications.

"Australia, if it is to be an international good citizen, has to give effect to the decision of the UNHRC," he said.

"That means they must consider these human rights implications and not deport people on character grounds in circumstances where to do so would deprive them of any realistic country and also would deprive them of their family and home life.

"And indeed in this case they took away from Stefan Nystrom the only family that he had by sending him away."

Terrible message

Mr Walters says while the Government could ignore the UN decision, to do so would lower Australia's standing in the world.

"It also sends a terrible message to other nations who need to be reminded of the importance of human rights and need to have a good example set by Australia," he said.

He adds that if the Government's response is not satisfactory, Mr Nystrom's case becomes a political issue, not a legal issue.

"There's no other tribunal that we can take the case to - this is the highest in the world," he said.

Ms Nystrom says her son has done more jail time in Sweden but he would be much better off in Australia.

"He wouldn't be any threat to anyone if he came here. He's only doing this drugs and drinking a lot; he's got nothing to do in the first place, but they won't give him a job in Sweden," she said.

Australia is obliged to respond to the decision within six months.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bowen says the Government will not pre-empt its response by making any public comment.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison was unavailable for comment.