2. Context for reform 2. Context for reform 2.1 Overview This chapter sets out the context for the reforms recommended in this report. It describes how a national framing of human rights protections in Australia has been intermittent and incomplete. There has been patchy implementation, false starts and abandoned plans and frameworks, resulting in significant gaps in protection of human rights and in implementation of expectations and obligations in the international context. The chapter describes the prior attempts towards national human rights reform, their limitations and failings, to provide the context for the recommendations in this Final Report. 2.2 Introduction In the 2019 Issues Paper that launched Free & Equal, the Commission described the overall status of the protection of human rights at the federal level as involving ‘an implementation gap’: between the human rights standards that Australian governments have committed to uphold over many years, and the actual protections in our laws, policies and processes of government. Without comprehensive legal protection, educational and other measures to promote understanding of human rights and processes for monitoring compliance with human rights, our government is not fully meeting its obligations to make sure that the human rights of all Australians are respected, protected and fulfilled.1 In the Commission’s report to the United Nations Human Rights Council for Australia’s 3rd Universal Periodic Review in 2021, the Commission also stated: Australia does not take a proactive approach to human rights. There are limited national targets and commitments to address known human rights challenges, and limited accountability for outcomes.2 The Commission stands by this assessment of the current approach to human rights at the federal level. (a) What are human rights? Human rights have been recognised through law and practice over many centuries. In modern times, the governments of the world have agreed to a set of common standards for human rights through the ‘International Bill of Rights’, which comprises 3 documents: • Universal Declaration of Human Rights: finalised in 1948, it remains the most important international statement of the fundamental values of equality, dignity and freedom. Australia was one of 8 countries that led the drafting of the Universal Declaration. • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which Australia ratified in 1975. • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which Australia ratified in 1980.3 These documents were developed as a response to the horrors of the 2 world wars, in order ‘to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’.4 FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 33