multicultural Hot Words

International Obligations...

Definition

Australia was one of the founding countries of the United Nations after the Second World War and continues to provide funds to support United Nations activities.

Australia is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees and to most United Nations Human Rights Conventions. By signing these conventions, Australia assumes certain obligations to the international community that it must uphold.

What makes it hot?

International obligations are hot when they are considered to be a politically correct tool used to interfere in Australia’s internal affairs and to impose values that Australians do not want.

The term becomes very hot when UN Committees charged with monitoring compliance to international agreements identify Australia as being in breach of its obligations. In recent years breaches have been identified mainly in relation to the convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination and the rights of refugees.

In 1996 the Australian Government established a process to review the international treaty process. Since then the Australian Government has stood back from the movement to establish a United Nations convention on the rights of disabled people and refused to sign an optional protocol that would give Australian women the right of appeal to a United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Date Added:

10 March 2002