Australian Human Rights Commission
Submission to the CEDAW Committee – 12 June 2018
that the wage-based component of the reformed CDP, currently limited to 6,000 jobs, should be
expanded as a universal approach.
72 These include: provisions of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) which permit visa cancellation on broad
character grounds, including in cases where people have family links in Australia; restrictions on
access to family reunion opportunities for some humanitarian entrants; immigration detention
arrangements which lead to family separation; and the practice of transferring people from regional
processing countries to Australia for medical treatment without their families. See Australian Human
Rights Commission, Human rights issues raised by visa refusal or cancellation under section 501 of
the Migration Act (June 2013) 17–18. At
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/section_501_paper.pdf (viewed
30 May 2018); see also Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission No 8 to the Senate Legal
and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Character
and General Visa Cancellation) Bill 2014 (28 October 2014); Australian Human Rights Commission,
Asylum seekers, refugees and human rights: Snapshot report (2nd edition) (2017) 45–46. At
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_Snapshot%20report_2n
d%20edition_2017_WEB.pdf (viewed 30 May 2018); see, for example, Helen Davidson and Paul
Farrell, ‘Immigration stalled on requests for rape victim’s family to join her, Nauru files show’, The
Guardian (online) (13 August 2016). At https://www.theguardian.com/australianews/2016/aug/13/immigration-stalled-on-requests-for-victims-family-to-join-her-nauru-files-show
(viewed 30 May 2018).
73 See United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Mission to the Republic of Nauru, 35 December 2012 (2012). At http://www.refworld.org/docid/50cb24912.html (viewed 17 May 2018);
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Parliament of Australia, Examination of the
Migration (Regional Processing) package of legislation (19 June 2013). At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Scrutiny_reports/20
13/2013/92013/~/media/Committees/Senate/committee/humanrights_ctte/reports/2013/9_2013/pdf/rep
ort.ashx (viewed 17 May 2018); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR monitoring
visit to the Republic of Nauru, 7 to 9 October 2013 (2013). At http://www.unhcr.org/enau/publications/legal/58117b931/unhcr-monitoring-visit-to-the-republic-of-nauru-7-to-9-october2013.html (viewed 17 May 2018); United Nations Committee against Torture, Concluding observations
on the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Australia, UN Doc CAT/C/AUS/CO/4-5 (23
December 2014) 6; Philip Moss, Review into recent allegations relating to conditions and
circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru (Department of Immigration and Border
Protection, 6 February 2015). At
https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/reviewconditions-circumstances-nauru.pdf (viewed 17 May 2018); Select Committee on the recent
allegations relating to conditions and circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru,
Parliament of Australia, Taking responsibility: Conditions and circumstances at Australia’s Regional
Processing Centre in Nauru (August 2015) 59–86. At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Regional_processing_Nauru/Regi
onal_processing_Nauru/~/media/Committees/nauru_ctte/Final_Report/report.pdf (viewed 17 May
2018); Elizabeth Elliott and Hasantha Gunasekera, The health and well-being of children in
immigration detention: Report to the Australian Human Rights Commission – Monitoring Visit to
Wickham Point Detention Centre, Darwin, NT (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2016) 12. At
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/health-and-wellbeing-children-immigration (viewed 17 May 2018).
74 See, for example, Michael Edwards, ‘Tensions on Nauru heightened after series of attacks on
refugees by locals’, ABC News (online) 20 March 2015. At http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-0320/tensions-high-on-nauru-after-attacks-on-refugees/6334234 (viewed 17 May 2018); Hayden Cooper,
‘Raped on Nauru: Video captures moment Somali refugee pleads for help from police after alleged
sexual assault’, ABC News (online) 28 September 2015. At http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-0928/two-refugees-allegedly-raped-on-nauru/6809956 (viewed 17 May 2018); Ginny Stein, ‘Nauru rape
case: Police “stopped off to watch firework show” before ferrying Iranian asylum seeker to station’,
ABC News (online) 22 October 2015. At http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/alleged-shortfalls-intreatment-of-nauru-rape-victim/6872582 (viewed 17 May 2018).
75 Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission under the Universal Periodic Review Process:
Australia’s Second Universal Periodic Review (2015), 18. At:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/submissions/australia-s-second-universal-periodic-review (viewed 31
May 2018).
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