Evatt, Elizabeth --- "Australia's performance in human rights" [2001] AltLawJl 4; (2001) 26(1) Alternative Law Journal 11

^[*] Elizabeth Evatt is a former member of the Human Rights Committee and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.© 2001 Elizabeth Evatt

^[1] Evans, Gareth and Grant, Bruce, Australia’s Foreign Relations in the World of the 1990s, Melbourne University Press, 1991, p.145.

^[2] Address, 10 December 1996 < <http://www.dfat.gov.au/hr/#speeches> >.

^[3] Alston, Philip, Effective Functioning of Bodies Established pursuant to United Nations Human Rights Instruments, E/CN.4/1997/74, 27 March 1997. See also Alston, Philip and Crawford, James, eds, The Future of UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

^[4] The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, ‘Improving But …: Australia’s Regional Dialogue on Human Rights’, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, June 1998, rec 17; Government Response, 1999.

^[5] HRC, Concluding Observations on Australia, July 2000, 9 -12. Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Australia, 01/09/2000. E/C.12/1/Add.50.

^[6] Toonen v Australia, 488/1992, March 1994, 1994 vol II.

^[7] A v Australia 560/1993, decided April 1997.

^[8] Sadiq Shek Elmi v: Australia, Communication No 120/1998. 25/05/99, CAT/C/22/D/120/1998.

^[9] DFAT, Human Rights and Indigenous Issues Newsletter, No 11, July 2000.

^[10] Sixteenth Report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund, ‘CERD and the Native Title Amendment Act 1998’, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, June 2000; (includes Report of the Non-Government Members, separately published as ‘Undertakings Freely Given, Australia’s International Obligations to Protect Indigenous Rights’).

^[11] Downer, Alexander, 10 December 1996 < <http://www.dfat.gov.au/ hr/#speeches> >.

^[12] Downer, Alexander, 29 August 2000 < <http://www.dfat.gov.au/ hr/#speeches> >.

^[13] Concluding Observations by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Australia, 24 March 2000, CERD/C/56/ Misc.42/rev.3.

^[14] Human Rights and Indigenous Issues Newsletter, No 11, July 2000.

^[15] Statement of 11 September 2000 <<www.lawcouncil.asn.au/unreview.doc>>.

^[16] Report by Mr Glèlè-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, CHR 55th session, provisional item 6, E/CN.4/1999/15, 15 January 1999. For the 2000 visit see E/CN.4/2000/16, 10 February 2000; departmental briefing for non-government organisations about the government decision on human rights treaty bodies, on 31 August 2000.

^[17] Departmental briefing for non-government organisations about the government decision on human rights treaty bodies, 31 August 2000.

^[18] The Australian delegation told CERD in March 2000 that the government had asked WA and NT to change their laws, but had received no reply.

^[19] See (E/CN.4/2000/58).