Human rights Australia

Milton David Fisher, Self-determination and Human Rights (Nedlands, WA Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies, University of Western Australia, 1992). 

Paul Reeves, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights (Philadlphia The Australia-New Zealand Studies Center, Pennsylvania State University, 1993). 

Fig. 98.3 Location of detention centers in Australia and offshore Islands. (Source Australian Human Rights Commission, 2004 3)...

One of the main obstacles to the fulfilment of human rights in practice is translating them from international obligations into domestic law. In some countries, duties assumed under international treaties automatically become part of domestic law, but in others (such as the UK and Australia), they need to be formally adopted into national law before they are enforceable. Nevertheless, if a country fails to give effect to the human rights commitments that it has voluntarily undertaken by ratifying treaties, then it will be in breach of its obligations under international law (e.g. ICCPR, Art. 2). 

All the major UN human rights bodies have condemned Australia s system of mandatory detention as a violation of Article 9 ofthe ICCPR because it does not satisfy these conditions. However, without a domestic human rights instrument in place, there is no basis on which such detention, its length, or its conditions can be challenged in the Australian courts. 

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