Thank you.

The United Kingdom welcomes Australia’s long-standing commitment to promoting and protecting human rights. The UK welcomes the positive steps taken by the Australian Government to tackle modern slavery, and we commend Australia’s progress on human rights issues since its last review and for its ongoing consultation with civil society in this process.

We recommend Australia:

1. Ratify the 2014 ILO Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention;

2. Adopt an open, merit-based process when selecting national candidates for UN Treaty Body elections;

3. Implement the Closing the Gap strategy, while ensuring shared decision making and genuine partnerships with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Thank you.