In July 2018, Australia will appear before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva. The government will deliver its eighth periodic report on their implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1979). The Committee has provided a list of issues and questions for Australia. That list includes:

• women, peace and security
• access to justice
• gender-based violence; and
• human trafficking

The Committee are interested in the challenges and achievements in the implementation of Australia’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012-2018 and how the next national action plan will incorporate General Recommendation 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations. They have asked for information on the impact of measures, including culturally appropriate legal assistance services, taken to improve access to justice and remedies by women, especially those from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The Committee has also asked for information on prosecutions and convictions of perpetrators of violence against women and human trafficking, including sentencing information.

Prosecute; don’t perpetrate submitted a shadow report to the Committee providing information on these issues with the view to holding the government to account for its obligations to investigate and prosecute sexual violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide within the national judicial system. The submission can be found on the website of the UN Human Rights website, or you can find it attached below.

Shadow Report – Australian CEDAW review – Prosecute; Don’t Perpetrate