Govt keeps UN prisons report secret
"We’re allowing those states who are culpable to prevent the public from seeing the UN’s criticism."
A United Nations report on the conditions in places of detention in Australia has been kept secret by the federal government for more than four months, despite encouragement from the UN for it to be made public.
In October last year the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) conducted a visit to Australia as part of the country’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which it ratified in late 2017.
The visit was paused and eventually terminated after the UN group was prevented from entering places of detention in New South Wales and Queensland. But the group did successfully conduct inspections of a number of places of detention and provided its findings in a report delivered to the federal government in mid-June.
Despite urging from the UN, the government is still yet to make this report public, more than four months later, and is yet to confirm whether it will ever do so.
Australia OPCAT Network Coordinator Steven Caruana has called on the government to release the report.
“The UN SPT is clear that publication of their visit report is a matter solely at the discretion of the Australian government,” Caruana says.
“The government’s explanation that it is standard practice for the UN SPT to request permission for publication at the same time as the government response to the report has no basis in the OPCAT treaty articles, nor the UN SPT’s published working methodology, nor has it been the practice of many state parties that have been visited by the UN SPT.
“If the Australian government is indeed serious about its OPCAT obligations as it has repeatedly claimed to be, then publishing the report and giving an opportunity for the community to contribute to its response is tangible evidence of that commitment.”
At a Senate Estimates hearing this week, representatives from the Attorney-General’s Department confirmed the report was sent to the states and territories in July.
The representative claimed that it was “usual process” for the report to not be made public until the government’s response is also released. But this was rebutted by the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, who said that this is not required by the UN, and that at least 14 other countries have released their own SPT reports without also releasing their response.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge wrote to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in July asking for the report to be released. Dreyfus replied a month later, saying the government is “considering its recommendations and the question of publication”.
“The Subcommittee has invited the Australian government to provide a response to the report by 19 December 2023,” Dreyfus said in the response.
“Noting the shared responsibility for places of detention, the Commonwealth will consult with states and territories in considering the Subcommittee’s report, including on the matter of its publication.”
At the Estimates hearing, Shoebridge said the report is likely critical of many of the states that are now responsible for deciding whether to make it public.
“We’re allowing those states who are culpable to prevent the public from seeing the UN’s criticism,” he said.
The UN group does not require these reports be made public, but does strongly encourage this.
“While reports are transmitted in confidence, the UN SPT actively encourages states to publish their reports,” the UN SPT said.
“This is the spirit of prevention in action.”
The report provided to the UK government after its own visit from the SPT in 2021 was released publicly on the same day it was received.
The Human Rights Commission this month expressed “concern” that this report still hasn’t been released.
“The Commission recommends the Australian government commit to publishing that report in full in the interests of transparency and accountability,” the Human Rights Commission said.
Under OPCAT, Australia must facilitate these visits from the UN SPT, and create independent inspection bodies for places of detention, known as National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs).
Despite having a deadline of January this year, Australia has still not complied with these requirements of the convention that it signed several years ago.
Australia’s three largest states - New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria - are still yet to designate their NPMs, and are in an ongoing funding dispute with the federal government over these inspection bodies.
The Commonwealth has written to the states and territories twice recently, outlining what steps are needed to comply with the convention and to reiterate the federal government’s offer of one-off funding for the establishment of the NPMs.