The right to remedy belongs to everyone, guaranteed by international law in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as elsewhere. The right to remedy goes hand-in-hand with every other human right. If your human rights are violated, you are entitled to have something done about it. Since 1980, Australia has been a party
to the ICCPR, which means it is legally bound to uphold it and ensure that "any person whose rights ... are violated shall have an effective remedy" (article 2). Since 1994 the UN has found in 33 cases that Australia has violated the human rights of people bringing a complaint to the UN. Very few of these people have received any remedy, even though the UN has upheld their complaint, found Australia in breach of international law and determined an appropriate remedy. Remedy Australia aims to change this by
- Publicising UN committee decisions concerning human rights violations by Australia
- Monitoring progress in implementing effective remedies for these violations
- Supporting the UN committees with independent follow-up information on Australian cases
- Advocating for effective remedial action as determined by the UN Committee, including remedies for affected individuals and measures designed to prevent the violation recurring
- Developing & advocating for an effective and transparent national mechanism for receiving, considering and giving effect to past and future UN views concerning violations by Australia
- Advocating for Australia to ratify further UN human rights complaint mechanisms as they become available
- Mobilising public support for this advocacy.
