December 2011: The exposure draft of Australia’s new National Human Rights Action Plan has been released.
In his announcement the Attorney General Robert McClelland commented that the Action Plan reflects work that Australian Governments are doing to address the community’s human rights concerns, and reinforces the commitment of Governments to the human rights of disadvantaged groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, older people and people with disability.
Among the new actions proposed by the Plan are:
- a review of Australia’s reservations under human rights treaties
- working to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture
- a review of federal legislation for barriers to older people participating in productive work.
- investigating ways that the justice system can better address mental illness and cognitive disability
- conducting research into rates of imprisonment with a focus on vulnerable groups and alternative sentencing options, and
- Working to provide accessible communications for people with disability in the event of an emergency.
The draft National Human Rights Action Plan was informed by a Baseline Study, an assessment of Australia’s human rights issues and the efforts to address them.
Consultations on the draft Action Plan close on 29 February 2012.
Further information about the National Human Rights Action Plan is available at www.ag.gov.au/nhrap .
