This Great Nation Now Sits on the UN Human Rights Council

When you think "Australia", you think "human rights". Not so much upholding them, but definitely contemplating them. Debating them, as though they are optional rather than inalienable. Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? We're holding a national postal survey to find out! Can refugees fleeing their homelands seek asylum here? Maybe! Best to detain them indefinitely on an island first to make sure. Is it a problem that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lifespans ten years shorter than non-Indigenous Australians? Depends who you talk to!!

Anyway, seems like our national interest in human rights is finally paying off, because overnight Australia became one of 15 nations to join the United Nations Human Rights Council. That's the international body charged with protecting human rights. Very serious, very prestigious; Australian diplomats have been campaigning for a seat on the council for the past two years.

Australia won its seat in the most fitting way possible: by default. We were essentially assured an uncontested election when France withdrew its bid in July, which might explain the lack of scrutiny. We'll be serving a three-year term.

Obviously, human rights NGOs weren't supportive of Australia's bid to join the world's most elite human rights debate club. The Human Rights Law Centre has correctly pointed out that Australia has come under fire from the UN a number of times for its treatment of asylum seekers, its policies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's rights, its civil liberty-infringing counter-terrorism laws, and for cooperating with overseas police in countries that allow the death penalty.

"Australia was once considered a world leader when it came to promoting some of the key rights that underpin successful democracy—access to voting, the right to peacefully protest and for workers to stand together in union. Australian governments are now eroding these foundations of our democracy," the Centre said in a statement on Monday.

Australia isn't the only new member of the Human Rights Council to come under fire for various hypocrisies. Another new Council member, Congo, has been criticised for its human rights record too. US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley released a statement saying that nations who "aggressively violate human rights at home should not be in a position to guard the human rights of others."

Other new recruits to the 47-member council include Angola, Senegal, Slovakia, Ukraine, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Spain. The UN General Assembly has the ability to suspend the privileges of any Council member, via a two thirds majority vote.

Oh, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is stoked.

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