Human rights in Australia

The Australian prime minister's suggestion that the UN should keep out of his country's domestic affairs smacks of hardline stances taken by some of the world's dictators. His comment brings Australia's international human rights record to the crossroads after it has enjoyed a position of being one of the strongest advocates of world law.

The often heard expression "keep out of our internal affairs" whenever the West raises human rights questions is a trademark of Asian leaders both current and past. But last week, the remark came, surprisingly, from the lips of a Western leader -- Australia's Prime Minister John Howard. He was responding to a United Nations decision for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, to investigate two states in Australia over their human rights records in relation to juvenile detention.

In recent years, Australia has been desperately trying to forge a new alliance with Asia. But it also is critical of international human rights abuses and has in the past year cited Tibet, Burma, China and Indonesia as countries where human rights abuses have occurred. If Australia thinks it has the right to condemn other countries publicly for human rights abuses according to international law, it must be prepared to not only permit the UN to conduct an investigation into this new juvenile legislation but also adhere to the finding's recommendations.

It is important for that nation to again show leadership and introduce whatever recommendations Mrs. Robinson makes. For Mr. Howard to suggest that an investigation under the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child is frivolous and that Australia is mature enough to make decisions on these matters, full stop, flies in the face of the long-built credibility that the nation to our south enjoys internationally.

-- The Bangkok Post