Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n HRW has written to the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, urging her to push for a more active and creative presence on the council.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia should treat its membership in the UN human rights council as both an opportunity and responsibility to be a leader in defending human rights abroad and at home,\u201d said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at HRW.<\/p>\n \u201cPromoting human rights values includes publicly raising rights issues with foreign leaders, not just making generic statements of concern in Geneva.\u201d<\/p>\n In its letter, HRW noted that Australia has often preferred a \u201cquiet diplomacy\u201d style of advocating for human rights improvements with other countries, but said it needed to increase its public pressure \u201cto ensure that private discussions are not used to shield violators from international scrutiny\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia has for the most part voted in favour of country resolutions to establish accountability mechanisms for crisis situations, but has not yet taken the next step,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n The letter included a briefing on more than 20 countries across Asia and the Middle East with human rights concerns, where HRW believed pressure and engagement by Australia could make a \u201csignificant difference\u201d.<\/p>\n It called for specific action \u2013 in partnership with like-minded countries \u2013 with resolutions to address serious human rights violations by countries such as China, the Philippines, Bahrain and Egypt, which have \u201cso far evaded scrutiny\u201d.<\/p>\n In China an estimated 1 million people \u2013 primarily Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims \u2013 have been arbitrarily detained in re-education camps.<\/p>\n \u201cAt minimum, we urge Australia to actively work to ensure a joint statement at the upcoming June session of the human rights council calling on China to support the call of the UN high commissioner for human rights for independent access to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n In the Philippines repression of government critics is rising and there has been virtually no accountability for the thousands of people extrajudicially killed in president Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s drug war.<\/p>\n Human rights defenders, government critics, journalists and opposition figures continue to be harshly punished in Bahrain over any activism, HRW said, and crackdowns were also occurring in Egypt.<\/p>\n \u201cPolice systematically use torture, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances to silence political dissent under the guise of combatting terrorism,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cAuthorities are actively dismantling independent civil society groups through restrictive legislation, detaining journalists, censoring websites and prosecuting rights defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n HRW suggested Australia\u2019s diplomatic missions could be louder and more \u201ccreative\u201d in supporting human rights abroad, inviting defenders to events, and using embassy social media accounts to advocate.<\/p>\n HRW acknowledged Australia\u2019s efforts to sanction the five people identified over human rights violations in Myanmar, but suggested the Australian government consider a law like the US\u2019s Global Magnitsky Act.<\/p>\n The Magnitsky Act, introduced during the Obama administration, allows the US government to sanction foreign government officials who have been implicated in human rights abuses, regardless of where they are in the world, without targeting an entire population.<\/p>\n \u201cImposing targeted sanctions against human rights abusers would be a powerful deterrent to countries in the region to consider repercussions from the Australian government,\u201d Pearson said.<\/p>\n HRW also called for stronger vetting of foreign armed forces before Australia provides training or support to them \u2013 an issue previously raised in regards to Australia\u2019s support of the Myanmar military.<\/p>\n HRW praised Australia\u2019s efforts to address human rights issues in numerous cases, including in securing the freedom of detained Bahraini Australian Hakeem al-Araibi, and voicing concerns about Myanmar\u2019s wrongful detention of two Reuters journalists and Brunei\u2019s anti-LGBTI penal code.<\/p>\n However, it said Australia had damaged its own credibility through its internationally criticised offshore processing regime for asylum seekers.<\/p>\n \u201cDfat should work with its Asia-Pacific neighbours for a regional solution that protects the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees,\u201d the letter said. \u201cPeople awaiting resettlement to third countries, including Australia, should be able to find safety in transit countries, be able to earn a living, see their children go to school, and live free from detention. And offshore processing should be dismantled once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Australia approaches the halfway mark of its term on the United Nations human rights council, it must do more to stand up against abusive nations, Human Rights Watch says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"0"},"categories":[306],"tags":[279,194,184],"class_list":["post-3497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-australia","tag-human-rights","tag-un"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":false,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n