Australia in Switzerland
Bern and Geneva
Switzerland, Liechtenstein

statement725

Human Rights Council - 29th Regular Session

Item 4 General Debate

Australian Statement

24 June 2015

We reaffirm that States have primary responsibility to protect their populations from human rights abuse and mass atrocities.

The barbaric terrorist organisation Daesh is a major and lethal threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, including through its indiscriminate targeting of civilians, mass executions and extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, the killing and maiming of children, and widespread, potentially genocidal, persecution based on ethnicity, religion or belief. The abuse of human rights and violence by Daesh are deeply concerning and Australia condemns them in the strongest terms.
Australia remains deeply concerned at the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We reiterate our call for the DPRK to implement the recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry report and begin respecting the basic human rights of its people. We welcome the opening of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights field office in Seoul this week, mandated with the important task of systematically monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in the DPRK.
Australia expressed the strongest concern about the ongoing grave human rights abuses taking place in South Sudan, and we strenuously urge the African Union to publicly release the Commission of Inquiry report as soon as possible.