Human rights watchdog for women impacted by Australian companies operating overseas.

The UN made a direct recommendation that Australia “establish a specialised mechanism to investigate violations of women’s human rights by corporations” to "bring perpetrators to justice and ensure compensation and rehabilitation for women.” 1

With the force of the UN behind us, this is a critical moment to demand our politicians show leadership and establish a human rights watchdog.

Will you take two minutes to write to your MP, and ask them to uphold Australia’s commitments on women’s rights by establishing a human rights watchdog?

The UN recognising the need for a human rights watchdog is a victory in itself for local women’s organisations and activists who have been campaigning on this issue.

In June, local women’s organisations from Papua New Guinea submitted a report to the CEDAW Committee detailing the adverse impacts women have experienced as a result of the PNG LNG project in their communities. ASX-listed companies Oil Search and Santos are major joint venture partners in this project, and it also received a USD $500 million loan from Australian Government Agency Efic in 2009.

Bougainvillean academic, researcher and activist Dr. Ruth Saovana Spriggs then travelled to Geneva and gave a powerful testimony about the impact of large-scale mining projects on women in Papua New Guinea:

“The Australian Government finances large-scale Extractive Industry Projects in PNG, which systematically exclude women and entrench male monopoly over decision-making and benefit flows. Women lose access to economic resources and status, increasing their vulnerability to violence." 2

It is thanks to the courageous work of women like Dr. Ruth Saovana Spriggs that the call for a watchdog was made in the UN recommendations to Australia this week. But now it’s our turn to raise our voices and make sure we use this moment to step up the pressure on our politicians.

The experience of women in Papua New Guinea is all too familiar for many communities around the world, where women face the consequences of Australian extractive projects such as an increased risk of gender-based violence, bearing responsibility for managing food insecurity, and taking on a greater unpaid care burden.

A human rights watchdog would have the authority to respond to complaints, publicly recommend genuine remedy, and investigate both the systemic impacts of mining on women’s rights and individual cases of abuse.

The Australian Government is required to respond to the UN’s recommendations. Now is the time to show our politicians there is growing public support for a human rights watchdog – and that it is urgent they take action.

In solidarity,

Lucy and the ActionAid Australia team

Sources

1 Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of Australia, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 20 July 2018

2 For full text, see https://dawnnet.org/publication/oral-statement-to-the-cedaw-committee-session-70/