The United Nations says Australia is in breach of its human rights obligations by imprisoning two teenagers for life in 1988 without the possibility of genuine parole.

The UN Human Rights Committee issued its findings in response to a complaint filed by two men who have been in jail for 26 years.

The UN said the pair, now aged in their 40s, should be given the possibility of parole and said sentencing children to life without the possibility of release was "cruel and inhuman".

The men were convicted in 1988 for the rape and murder of 20-year-old Janine Balding when they were aged 14 and 16.

Ms Balding was abducted by five street youths at knife-point from the carpark of a train station. She was later raped and dumped in a lake.

The two men were convicted over the rape and murder of Janine Balding. ( SKY News )

Senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, Ruth Barson, said it was not acceptable to simply lock up children and throw away the key.

"At the moment, the law says that they're only allowed to be granted release if they're incapacitated or on their death bed," she said.

"The Human Rights Committee found that that's not a genuine opportunity for release and that's not a human rights compliant response for people who commit crimes when they're children.

"Bob Carr, when he was premier, introduced legislation saying that he wants to, in his words, 'cement them in their cells'. The Human Rights Committee has found that that's a breach of human rights."

In a report, the Human Rights Committee said Justice Peter Newman commented on the difficulty of the task "because of their extreme youth" when he delivered the life sentences for the then youths.

Despite their ages Justice Newman found the crimes were so barbaric and grave "that none of the prisoners in this matter should ever be released".

But the UN Human Rights Committee argued the 1990 ruling did not take into consideration the age of the offenders and is contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.