TRANSCRIPT:
Human Rights Watch has published its World Report 2024, and its chapter on Australia criticises the Australian government for what it says is a failure to take concrete action to address human rights concerns with the Chinese government.
It acknowledges Australian government diplomacy led to the successful release of journalist Cheng Lei, who was imprisoned for three years in China, but it says there's scope for Australia to take more action.
Daniela Gavshon is the Australia director at Human Rights Watch.
"We'd like to see Australia do more than what it has traditionally done around quiet diplomacy. We think that sustained, principled diplomacy, both publicly and privately, works. We saw that with the release of Cheng Lei last year but also there are other concrete actions Australia could take. So one that we consistently raise is sanctions."
Human Rights Watch would like to see Australia impose what are called Magnitsky-type sanctions on Chinese officials for what it says are crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang.
In 2022, a United Nations report found the Chinese Communist Party had committed serious human rights violations against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang province by imposing arbitrary and discriminatory detention.
Magnitsky sanctions are named after a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who was killed in prison for exposing corruption.
They freeze the assets of those targeted and prevent them from travelling freely.
The federal government has imposed them on Russian and Iranian individuals and entities but not on Chinese officials.
Daniela Gavshon says she recognises raising human rights issues can be challenging, given China is Australia's biggest trading partner, but says human rights should never be sidelined because of trade relationships.
"Trade and security is always going to be a part of foreign affairs and we're not suggesting they shouldn't be but we don't think that human rights should be sidelined. We think human rights is an important part of that. You can't have effective relationships if you don't have countries that are transparent that abide by the rule of law, that can be trusted and relied upon. Those aren't good trade and security partners. So, it's in everyone's interests that China is a rights respecting country and that the other countries that Australia deals with are rights respecting."
She says it's possible Australia is not advocating as strongly as it could because of the trade relationship.
"Australia possibly is soft on China because of the trade relationship but we don't think that's good enough. That's not a reason not to put human rights first and foremost in any relationship."
SBS News put these criticisms to the Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Senator Wong was not available for interview but the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued this statement:
"Australia is committed to protecting and promoting universal human rights globally. The Australian Government has serious concerns about human rights in China, including human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet, and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.
As the Foreign Minister has said, Australia employs every strategy at our disposal towards upholding human rights, consistent with our values and with our interests. Our approach has been to press China bilaterally and publicly, while seeking to partner with other countries and build coalitions to advocate for the protection of human rights, including in multilateral fora, such as the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council.
We have consistently raised our concerns directly with China at the highest levels, and will continue to do."
The Australia chapter of the Human Rights Watch World Report calls for an end to the offshore detention of asylum seekers and refugees.
In 2020, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court found Australia's offshore processing conditions may constitute a breach of international law but deemed there was not enough evidence to prosecute the federal government after finding the policy had not been designed to "attack" migrants and asylum seekers.
The controversial policy has bipartisan support but Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch Annabel Hennessy says it should stop.
"We would like to see community alternatives taking place so for Australia to respect the rights of people to seek asylum. it's not illegal to seek asylum and ideally for people to be processed in community, in community-based settings where they have access to lawyers, where they can have access to supports and their human rights can be respected."
The report references longstanding issues in Australia such as the over-representation of First Nation's people in Australia's prisons.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprise almost one third of the adult prison population but just 3 per cent of the national population.
The report says at least 19 Indigenous people died in custody in 2023, including a 16-year-old who died after self-harming in pre-trial detention in October following a prolonged period of solitary confinement.
The treatment of the elderly in Australia's nursing homes is also referenced.
Human Rights Watch says the Australian government is drafting a new Aged Care Act which will replace the one enacted in 1997.
Annabel Hennessy says the new act must provide guaranteed protections for the elderly from the use of both physical and chemical restraints in aged care.
This was highlighted in the aged care royal commission where some nursing homes were exposed for giving residents with dementia tranquillisers and antipsychotic medication without consent from doctors and family members.
Annabel Hennessy acknowledges measures have been taken to stop this occurring but says it's still going on.
"Aged care residents are receiving medications not for therapeutic processes but to control their behaviour, and that is a human rights breach. And whilst there has been attempts to address that, it's still going on and it needs to be recognised as a human rights breach. The Australian government is working on a new aged care act and so we would really like to see protections in that aged care act against physical and chemical restraint. Dementia patients in particular can be vulnerable to this, and what we tend to see there is dementia patients receiving medications that don't have a therapeutic benefit but rather is for the benefit of aged care facilities and staff to control their behaviour."
Australia's national regulator for aged care services says measures were introduced by the federal parliament in 2021 aimed at eliminating the inappropriate use of what it calls restrictive practices which include physical and chemical restraints.
In a statement, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, says the Commission continues to focus on and provide a range of information, guidance and education to aged care providers and those providing care to older Australians, about the legal provisions for the use of restrictive practices.
"In particular, we work with providers to ensure that they understand what constitutes a restrictive practice, and the conditions under which it can be used in specific circumstances. We also refer providers to specialist dementia support services such as Dementia Support Australia which has a dedicated 24/7 helpline and trained dementia consultants who can provide specialist advice."
Commissioner Anderson says draft legislation for a new Aged Care Bill has been released and the new act will include strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.
When it comes to restrictive practices, the draft standards propose that aged care providers minimise the use of restrictive practices and, where restrictive practices are used, these are:
"Used as a last resort, used in the least restrictive form and for the shortest time needed, used with the informed consent of the older person and be monitored and regularly reviewed."
