Towards a better human rights action plan

The NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft Baseline Study recently released by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.

In April 2010, the Commonwealth Attorney-General launched the Human Rights Framework, which outlined a range of key measures aimed to further protect and promote human rights in Australia, including developing a new National Human Rights Action Plan.

The Action Plan will be based on the Baseline Study, which provides an outline of the current status of human rights protections in Australia, identifying gaps in human rights protections, and actions that could be taken to address these gaps.

After an abysmal Action Plan was developed in 2004, the Australian Government should look to other countries for guidance developing an Action Plan and Baseline Study that reflects ‘best practice’, such as New Zealand.

New Zealand’s 2005 – 2010 Action Plan was underpinned by a substantial baseline study that considered a broad range of human rights issues, and the associated legal and policy context, which proved critical to identifying objectives and targets to be included in the Action Plan.

New Zealand has recently released its 2010 Baseline Study. The report is available at http://www.hrc.co.nz/human-rights-environment/human-rights-in-new-zealand-2010/ and is a great example of what a baseline study should look like.

Australia’s Baseline Study identifies gaps in human rights protections by referencing the findings of the 2009 human rights consultations and the recommendations from Australia’s recent Universal Periodic Review, as well as other relevant statistics and research relating to human rights.

The study identifies 14 areas and groups of people in need of greater human rights protections, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and sex and gender diverse people.

The report recognises ongoing discrimination against same-sex relationships, the right of LGBTI people to live free from violence and discrimination, and discrimination against sex and gender diverse people, but only proposes to develop measures to improve access to support services for people experiencing same-sex domestic violence, and monitoring and evaluating the impact of existing and proposed anti-discrimination protections for LGBTI people.

The GLRL encourages you to comment on whether you believe the draft Baseline Study adequately reflects and proposes priority actions to address the extent of human rights violations faced by LGBTI people today.

Comments are due by August 31 and can be made by visiting http://www.ag.gov.au/nhrap