Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates

Complaints

Criminal Justice

OPCAT: Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

OPCAT

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) is an international agreement aimed at preventing torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. OPCAT places an obligation to establish a system of regular inspections to places of detention, with the aim of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Australia ratifies major anti-torture treaty OPCAT

Australia has taken the final step necessary to ratify and implement a major international treaty that combats torture and other forms of mistreatment. This is an opportunity to protect the rights of people who are detained in Australia for generations to come.

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the Australian Government’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) on December 21, 2017.

Australia ratifies major anti-torture treaty OPCAT

Today Australia has taken the final step necessary to ratify and implement a major international treaty that combats torture and other forms of mistreatment. This is an opportunity to protect the rights of people who are detained in Australia for generations to come.

The Australian Human Rights Commission today welcomes the Australian Government’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Powers) Bill 2015

Mandatory sentencing is not the solution, says Human Rights Commissioner

Mandatory sentencing laws strip courts of their power to interpret laws and compromises the separation of power between government and the judiciary, Commissioner Wilson said today.

“I understand that governments take this approach to mandatory sentencing because they want to be seen by their constituents as being ‘tough on crime’.

“But mandatory sentencing laws do not provide a solution. Instead they stifle the role of courts to review and interpret the laws.

Queensland Law Society Mandatory Sentencing Policy Paper Launch

Acknowledgements

Thank you for your kind introduction.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Turrbal People, the traditional owners of the lands on which we are meeting today.

I would also like to acknowledge:

Judicial review of lawfulness of detention (2013)

Summary

The Australian Human Rights Commission provides this response to the questionnaire from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in relation to judicial review of the lawfulness of detention.

The Australian Human Rights Commission provides this response to the questionnaire from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in relation to judicial review of the lawfulness of detention.

Commission calls for all states and territories to introduce disability justice strategy

The Australian Human Rights Commission will today report on its inquiry into the treatment of people with disabilities in the criminal justice system. It finds that such people are not equally treated.

The report Equal before the law: Towards disability justice strategies is the culmination of extensive consultations held last year with victims, perpetrators, witnesses, disability advocates, policy makers and criminal justice workers.

Human Rights (Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders) Bill 1999

Monday 10 June, 2013

Mandatory detention laws were enacted in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Essentially these laws require courts to impose minimum sentences of detention or imprisonment for people convicted of certain offences. They effectively remove judicial discretion in relation to those offences.

Access to justice in the criminal justice system for people with disability

This project focuses on people with disabilities who need communication supports or who have complex and multiple support needs and who have come in contact with the criminal justice system.