This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 62nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during the adoption of Australia Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcome held on July 1, 2026.
Human Rights Watch is disappointed that Australia accepted less than half of the recommendations received during its fourth Universal Periodic Review. In its response, Australia claims it takes its human rights obligations seriously. Yet it has refused to accept key recommendations to stop the incarceration of children as young as 10, to end its offshore processing regime, and to take greater action to phase out fossil fuels.
Australia acknowledged that it must do more to address the disproportionate incarceration of First Nations people. However, this was undermined by Australia's refusal to accept recommendations to raise the age of criminal responsibility. Children as young as 10 can be incarcerated in most Australian jurisdictions. First Nations children represent just 6 percent of the child population, but 60 percent of those incarcerated. Children have been locked up in adult prisons and held in solitary confinement for more than 22 hours a day. In the most serious cases, children in Australia have died in detention.
On migration, Australia said it was committed to ensuring its system respects the human rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Yet it did not accept recommendations explicitly calling on it to end its offshore processing regime, under which asylum seekers are forcibly transferred to the Pacific island nation of Nauru.
Finally, on climate change, Australia says it is "playing a leadership role in global climate action." Yet it has accepted barely any of the recommendations calling for greater action, including recommendations from Pacific neighbors, who face some of the most serious threats from the climate crisis, and called on Australia to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels.
If Australia really wants to show it takes its international human rights obligations seriously, it should reconsider its positions.
