Human Rights & Australia's aid program

Australia's aid program supports human rights through a framework of six principles:

Human rights are a high priority for the Government. Civil and political rights are ranked equally with economic, social and cultural rights.
The aid program will continue to undertake activities that directly address specific economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. A particular emphasis will be on the creation of durable institutional capacity to promote and protect human rights.
The emphasis will be on the practical and attainable. AusAID, as the Government's aid agency, will pursue practical aid activities in support of human rights. These activities complement and build upon high-level dialogue on human rights. Dialogue on human rights and representations about individual human rights cases will normally be carried out through diplomatic channels.
The aid program will develop activities primarily as a result of consultations and cooperation with partner countries on human rights initiatives. Regional and multilateral activities will also be undertaken.
Considerable care will continue to be applied to the use of aid sanctions associated with human rights concerns. The Government will consider such sanctions on a case-by-case basis. Aid conditionality based on human rights concerns would only be used in extreme circumstances since it can jeopardise the welfare of the poorest and it may be counterproductive.
AusAID will continue to link closely with other arms of the Australian Government on governance and human rights issues. AusAID will also liaise with NGOs and human rights organisations in Australia.

Practical action based on these principles means that the aid program continues to focus on its objective of helping developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. These principles underpin our strong support for civil and political rights throughout our aid work. The aid program seeks to maximise the benefits for human rights in all development assistance activities.

The Government helps promote and protect human rights through supporting grass roots activities for indigenous human rights groups and building the institutional capacity of national human rights bodies. With Australian support the Asia Pacific Forum for National Human Rights Institutions has provided advice and expertise to assist with the establishment of national human rights commissions in Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia and Thailand.

The number of internationally accredited national human rights institutions in the Asia Pacific has grown from four to seventeen since 1996. Australian assistance has been effective in supporting free, fair and credible elections in a range of partner countries, including the landmark 1999 Indonesian elections, as well as elections in Solomon Islands and Fiji in 2001, which were positive steps after a period of protracted conflict and destabilisation in both countries.

From an aid perspective, development and human rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. For development to be sustainable, individuals in developing countries need to have secure and long-term access to the resources required to satisfy their basic needs, be they economic, social, cultural, civil or political.

At the broadest level, therefore, the whole Australian aid program contributes to the realisation of human rights. Aid activities that contribute to employment or income generation, improve public services, strengthen sustainable management of natural resources, or provide emergency and humanitarian relief in response to crises all contribute to human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. Similarly, public sector reform and the strengthening of civil society contribute strongly to the promotion and protection of civil and political rights. This highlights the indivisibility of all human rights. The Australian aid program attaches equal priority to all of them.

The Human Rights Fund

The protection of human rights by Australia's development partners is an important element in identifying and empowering those living in extreme poverty. Fostering the promotion and protection of human rights underpins good governance and leads to sustainable and equitable growth.

The Human Rights Fund specifically focuses on human rights programs and institutions and often complements other larger and broader interventions implemented through the bilateral, regional and NGO programs.

Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions

This project seeks to strengthen the institutional capacities of, and cooperation between, existing national human rights commissions within the Asia-Pacific region, and encourage and assist governments to establish national human rights institutions. Dialogue, cooperation and mutual support between national institutions within the region is particularly important as a step in developing better mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights in our region. Australian government funding includes provision of regular contributions to the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions to provide secretariat services to the Forum. Apart from information dissemination and exchange, the Secretariat also supports specific country technical cooperation projects, focusing on strengthening their human rights infrastructures.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Australian Government has provided $1.72 million since 1995 to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to support its global work on national human rights institution-building. Australia's monies are directed to technical cooperation activities addressing the promotion and protection of human rights, specifically related to national institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Human Rights Small Grants Scheme (HRSG)

This initiative provides small grants to in-country organisations (primarily non-government) for activities aimed at promoting and protecting human rights in a direct and tangible way. The scheme's geographic focus is the Asia-Pacific region, although worthy proposals from other regions are also supported, reflecting the Government's desire to give balance to Australia's international human rights representations with constructive grass-roots activities.

Examples of activities funded under the scheme include: training workshops on investigation of human rights abuses in Indonesia; support for victims of child trafficking in Thailand; and a popular theatre program to educate poor rural communities in Bangladesh on their legal and human rights.

See HRSG Guidelines and Successful Proposals 2006-07 elsewhere on this website.

Australia-China Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program

Following discussions in August 1997 between Premier Li Peng and Prime Minister John Howard, China and Australia opened a high-level dialogue on human rights.

The two countries agreed to undertake a program of technical cooperation to strengthen the administration, promotion and protection of human rights in China.

The Human Rights Technical Cooperation (HRTC) Program believes that working together and exchanging views and approaches is the best way to develop effective human rights protection, promotion and administration. The program addresses organisations and areas that can have immediate impacts on human rights in China. The program aims to expose officials to new ideas and ways of working that will help them make better decisions on policy and practice.

All activities implemented under the program aim to foster longer-term contact between Chinese and Australian individuals and organisations. There are three main themes:

Legal reform
Women's and children's rights
Ethnic and minority rights.

The program includes activities in provincial locations as well as Beijing.

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) provides the Australian aid contribution to HRTC. AusAID has contracted the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to implement the program. HREOC works directly with Chinese counterpart agencies, Australian specialist agencies and individuals participating in activities.

The program has previously undertaken activities with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the lead counterpart organisation), the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court, the National Judges College and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

Activities have also been undertaken with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the All-China Women's Federation and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

See:

Aid activities under Australia-China HRTC 2007-08

Review of Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program

Related websites

2007

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