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Human Rights Council
7th Session, General Segment
Statement by HE Ms Caroline Millar
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations at Geneva
On Wednesday 13 February 2008, a defining moment in Australia’s history took place. The Prime Minister formally apologised on behalf of the Australian Parliament for the laws and policies of past governments which resulted in profound grief, suffering and loss for Indigenous Australians.
The apology was broadcast live and watched across the nation in schools, communities, work places and on screens erected in public places. In so doing, Australians showed their support to those aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders, now known as the Stolen generations, who, as children, were removed from their families and communities.
The National Apology heralds a new partnership with Indigenous peoples based on respect cooperation and mutual responsibility. These principles are also core principles underlying the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Australia recognises the importance of the Declaration for Indigenous Peoples globally.
The new Australian Government was elected on a platform highlighting its commitment to human rights, and with an explicit mandate to strengthen Australia’s engagement with the United Nations system.
In this context, we will work constructively and actively with the Human Rights Council to ensure this body is able to respond effectively to human rights situations that demand its attention.
The international community needs the Council to play a strong, positive role in promoting and protecting human rights around the world. This body’s credibility will hinge on its ability to act decisively and quickly on the most pressing human rights situations around the globe.
Australia also commends the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for its valuable contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights around the world, including through its engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. We particularly look forward to working with the Office in this 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Unfortunately, serious human rights abuses continue throughout the world, and we expect these to be addressed during this session. At the UN World Summit in 2005, the international community recognised the basic principle that governments have a “responsibility to protect” their citizens.
The Council, as the UN’s principal human rights organ, has a critical role to play as a forum for early warning and prevention of gross and systematic human rights violations. The Council has available to it a potentially useful set of tools and working practices, including the innovative Universal Periodic Review.
There is no excuse for inaction in this forum, and Australia looks forward to helping the Council achieve its objectives. The lives of countless people depend on it.