Australia

Australia has a solid record of protecting civil and political rights. However, the government’s failure to respect international standards for asylum seekers and refugees continues to take a heavy human toll. The country’s practices of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, abuses related to offshore processing, and outsourcing of refugee obligations to other countries have been heavily criticized by United Nations experts, foreign governments, and even some Australian government-funded inquiries. The government has also instituted overly broad and vague counterterrorism laws, and has done too little to address indigenous rights and disability rights.