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Ratification a priority as Roxon responds to OPCAT letter
From newsletter: ALHR National Newsletter
Published: 18/04/2012
Published: 18/04/2012
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has issued a formal response to ALHR's joint letter of 21 December 2011, which urged the Australian Government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
In her letter, Attorney-General Roxon assured that the Australian Government was working towards ratification, and enclosed the National Interest Analysis tabled in Parliament last month. The question whether to ratify the treaty has now been referred to a parliamentary committee (JSCOT).
In a press release accompanying the announcement in early March, Nicola Roxon and then acting Foreign Minister Emerson affirmed that "Torture is wholly inconsistent with the Australian Government's fundamental responsibility to protect the rights and dignity of all individuals. Ratifying OPCAT will send a strong message both within Australia and internationally that Australia takes its human rights obligations seriously".
We couldn't agree more. Which is why ratification and implementation should proceed as a matter of priority. Almost three years have elapsed since Australia signed the Optional Protocol in 2009, and progress on ratification and implementation has been slow, partly due to State-Federal wrangling over who is to foot the modest bill for detention monitoring and oversight.
However, increasing transparency and accountability in detention systems may in fact save taxpayers, as Phil Lynch noted in an op-ed in the Herald Sun. In New Zealand, the system of independent monitoring established under OPCAT is estimated to have saved $30 million through prevention of ill-treatment. In Australia by contrast, ill-treatment in immigration detention has cost taxpayers $20m in compensation payments in the last decade alone.
In her letter, Attorney-General Roxon assured that the Australian Government was working towards ratification, and enclosed the National Interest Analysis tabled in Parliament last month. The question whether to ratify the treaty has now been referred to a parliamentary committee (JSCOT).
In a press release accompanying the announcement in early March, Nicola Roxon and then acting Foreign Minister Emerson affirmed that "Torture is wholly inconsistent with the Australian Government's fundamental responsibility to protect the rights and dignity of all individuals. Ratifying OPCAT will send a strong message both within Australia and internationally that Australia takes its human rights obligations seriously".
We couldn't agree more. Which is why ratification and implementation should proceed as a matter of priority. Almost three years have elapsed since Australia signed the Optional Protocol in 2009, and progress on ratification and implementation has been slow, partly due to State-Federal wrangling over who is to foot the modest bill for detention monitoring and oversight.
However, increasing transparency and accountability in detention systems may in fact save taxpayers, as Phil Lynch noted in an op-ed in the Herald Sun. In New Zealand, the system of independent monitoring established under OPCAT is estimated to have saved $30 million through prevention of ill-treatment. In Australia by contrast, ill-treatment in immigration detention has cost taxpayers $20m in compensation payments in the last decade alone.