- Background
- Marking International Women’s Day on 7 March 2022, Mr António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, issued a statement expressing concern that, far from progressing the rights of women and girls, the international community is leaving them behind:
On International Women’s Day, we celebrate women and girls everywhere. We celebrate their contributions to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Their ideas, innovations and activism that are changing our world for the better. And their leadership across all walks of life.
But we also recognize that in too many areas, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards. The pandemic has kept girls and women out of schools and workplaces. They face rising poverty and rising violence. They do the vast majority of the world’s unpaid but essential care work. They’re targets of violence and abuse, just because of their gender. In all countries, women are scandalously under-represented in the halls of power and the boardrooms of business. And as this year’s theme reminds us, they bear the brunt of climate change and environmental degradation.
Starting now, on International Women’s Day, it’s time to turn the clock forward for every woman and girl.
1.2While the Secretary-General’s comments were directed at women and female children, the issues and challenges he outlined are applicable to women and children generally across the globe. The rights of women and children are currently in danger of losing gains that have taken decades to achieve. As indicated by the United Nations’ Gender Snapshot 2023 documenting progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, progress in all human rights and wellbeing markers has stalled, including for such basic protections as safety, access to food and resources, and human dignity.
1.3Further, recent or unfolding events, including wars, natural disasters, pandemics and a transitioning climate, have highlighted that women and children suffer disproportionate and long-lasting effects of such occurrences. Societal disruptors in recent years have had a devastating impact on the rights of women and children, including the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters associated with climate change, and conflict around the world in warfare or other forms of unrest.
1.4This situation has drawn the attention of policy-makers, prompting questions of how the international community can best address the needs of women and children. This inquiry has thus sought to address this issue from Australia’s perspective as a world leader in addressing the human rights of women and children.
Context
1.5The protection of the rights of women and children forms a key element of the world’s international law framework. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade describe human rights as being at ‘the core of the international system’, particularly in relation to equality between men and women. A number of international agreements and instruments refer to the rights of women and children, including:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol;
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol;
- The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;
- Agreed Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women; and
- UN Security Council resolutions on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
- Other relevant instruments that intersect with the protection of the rights of women and children include the Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Australia has ratified and enacted most of these agreements into its own domestic legislation.
- In addition, certain contexts such as conflict are covered by other forms of international law. Women and children are covered by a range of international human rights law in conflict situations, but other types of law such as international humanitarian law (otherwise known as the law of armed conflict) and international criminal law apply as well. These areas of law are found in formal legislative instruments such as the Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, resolutions as determined in international forums, and ongoing case law.
Related inquiries and reviews
1.8Aspects of the rights of women and children have been examined in a range of settings, both within parliamentary committees and in the broader public sector. In previous parliaments, this committee conducted a number of inquiries in relation to issues relating to women and children:
- First periodic report on Human Rights: Final report into certain aspects of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Annual Report 2019-20 (March 2022), which provided a broad overview of human rights issued considered by the Committee in the 46th Parliament and made six recommendations;
- Advocating for the elimination of child and forced marriage: Interim report for the inquiry into certain aspects of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Annual Report 2019-20 (December 2021), which made nine recommendations in relation to matters such as data collection and bilateral engagement in relation to child and forced marriage;
- Inquiry into the human rights of women and girls in the Pacific (November 2021), which made 14 recommendations to the Australian Government in relation to a range of topics such as female representation in leading disaster response and building local responsiveness in Pacific nations; and
- Empowering women and girls: The human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean-Asia Pacific region (December 2015), which provided a detailed analysis of these matters and made 29 recommendations to the Australian Government.
- Other notable parliamentary inquiries that refer to the rights of women and children include three recent reports by the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade:
- The inquiry into human rights implications of recent violence in Iran. This inquiry focused particularly on the rights of women in Iran and potential breaches on international law. The final report was tabled in February 2023, with 12recommendations.
- The inquiry into Australia’s engagement with Afghanistan, which referred to the rights of women and children as part of its consideration of the broader issues of bilateral engagement. The Committee issued a number of interim or progress reports, and the final report was tabled in April 2022 with sixrecommendations to Australian Government agencies.
- The inquiry into issues facing diaspora communities in Australia. The final report, tabled in February 2021, detailed particular issues affecting women in diaspora communities which pose human rights concerns.
- In addition, broader policy reviews by the public sector on matters relating to the human rights of women and children are either in progress or have been completed in recent years. These include:
- The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s review of Australia’s International Development Policy in 2022. The new International Development Policy was publicly released and announced on 8 August 2023 by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
- An independent statutory review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth), which examined the operation of the Act’s impact three years after its enactment. The review was conducted by Professor John McMillan, AO and tabled on 25May2023, making 30 recommendations to the Australian Government.
- The 2022 Rapid Review of Australia’s visa system commissioned by the Australian Government, led by Ms Christine Nixon, AO, APM. It reported to Government on 31March 2023, and was declassified for public release on 4October 2023.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.11The inquiry was requested by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong (the Minister), who asked the Committee to inquire into the rights of women and children. Upon consideration of the Minister’s request, the Committee resolved to refer the inquiry to the Human Rights Subcommittee.
1.12The terms of reference contained in the Minister’s referral were:
- understanding the treatment of women and children internationally and the impact of this treatment on their human rights;
- the adequacy of support services, including legal services, available to affected women and children;
- the disproportionate impact on women's education and social inclusion created by global disruptions such as COVID, climate change, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict; and
- any related matters.
- Given the breadth of the Terms of Reference, the Committee received evidence regarding human rights issues on a broad range of topics. Given limitations of resourcing and time, the Committee was unable to pursue every topic in detail.
- Further, as the Terms of Reference do not make reference to jurisdictional limits, the Committee has broadly interpreted the request to reflect domestic matters in addition to international considerations. This is in part due to the globalised nature of Australian society and the presence of diaspora communities with strong links to their originating nations and cultures, which will be discussed in later parts of the report.
- The Committee issued a media release on 26 October 2022, announcing the inquiry and inviting submissions by 16 December 2022. Accepting submissions beyond this date, the Committee received 49 submissions and 18 supplementary submissions. A list of submissions can be found at Appendix A.
- In undertaking to adopt the inquiry, the Committee recognised the sensitivity of the material that it would likely receive. The Committee thus resolved that material containing graphic images of alleged human rights abuses would not be accepted to the inquiry. The inquiry website also emphasised that material that identified individuals in relation to human rights abuses would potentially be accepted confidentially by the Committee or be redacted prior to publication.
- The Committee held nine public hearings, including interstate hearings in Melbourne and Sydney. Details of witnesses who provided evidence at the hearings can be found at Appendix C. The Committee also received multiple private briefings in relation to the inquiry. Submissions and transcripts of the public hearings can be found at the inquiry website.
About the report
1.18The report is divided into four chapters:
- Chapter 1 details the background, context and conduct of the inquiry;
- Chapter 2 provides a ‘snapshot in time’ of women and children’s rights in 2023, detailing evidence in relation to the current challenges and issues globally and domestically;
- Chapter 3 examines specific issues in further detail which are considered to be key areas requiring policy development; and
- Chapter 4 sets out a roadmap in relation to policy development within the context of addressing the human rights of women and children.
- The Committee was cognisant of the multiple inquiries conducted in previous parliaments in relation to various aspects of the rights of women and children, both in this Committee and in others. Rather than revisit material which has already been well-established and accepted in previous inquiries, the Committee instead chose to focus on key topics elucidated during the inquiry and practical means of addressing these issues.
- Much of the evidence gathered during the inquiry contained sensitive or distressing content, including testimony provided by victims of gender-specific violence. The Committee understands the challenges experienced by those who recount their stories, and particularly thanks these witnesses for their contributions. Further, readers are advised that the report and its associated materials on the inquiry website contain sensitive and distressing content.
- While the report does not intend to single out particular countries or governments, much of the evidence received by the Committee referred to specific examples of alleged human rights violations in certain jurisdictions. For example, the Iranian Women’s Association raised concerns regarding the treatment of women and children by the current regime.