Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The deprivation of human rights remains a global challenge—an acute one. According to estimates by organisations such as the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, over 700 people were executed in 2012, torture was carried out in more than 100 countries and 140 million girls and women suffered genital mutilation. Australia has been at the forefront of international efforts to improve human rights. We were one of eight nations to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after World War II. The declaration in fact was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 under the presidency of former Australian foreign minister Dr HV Evatt.

Our human rights tradition is one that we are proud of. I am pleased to announce today, therefore, Australia's candidacy to serve on the Human Rights Council for the 2018 to 2020 term. Australia has not served on the council since it was established in 2008. The council is the UN's pre-eminent human rights body, responsible for promoting universal protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is mandated to consider violations of human rights, including in the DPRK, Syria and the Central African Republic. It is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly—