Australia thanks the Special Rapporteur for her critically important work.

All forms of violence against women and girls are a violation of human rights and significantly impact individuals, families, communities and countries.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that all forms of sexual- and gender-based violence have increased. In addition, the risks of sexual- and gender-based violence are being exacerbated by the consequences of climate change and, for too many women, girls and persons of diverse gender identities, armed conflicts. These risks are heightened for women and girls facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

It is urgent that we act now to ensure that the safety and human rights of all women and girls are at the centre of our collective efforts to recover from COVID-19, confront the climate crisis and resolve conflicts.

Australia recognises that addressing, responding to and preventing sexual and gender-based violence is a domestic and international challenge.

We are pleased to work with international partners and forums to address this issue, including as part of the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies and the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. We welcome continued partnerships such as these to support collaborative action as an international community to ending all forms of sexual- and gender-based violence everywhere.

Australia’s commitment to ending sexual and gender-based violence domestically has been reinforced through our second National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022-2032). Our National Plan strengthens the coordination of government, civil society and individual efforts across Australia to reduce family, domestic and sexual violence. We have established the Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Commission to provide policy leadership and a coordinated and cooperative approach to ending violence across the four pillars of Prevention, Early Intervention, Response and Recovery. We recently amended our Fair Work Act to provide an entitlement of ten days of paid family and domestic violence leave, in a 12-month period, for full-time, part-time and casual employees.

Australia recognises that globally, Indigenous women and girls experience discrimination and violence at a rate disproportionate to non-Indigenous women. We thank the Special Rapporteur for her report on violence against indigenous women and girls at HRC50, which considers the causes, manifestations and consequences of gender-based violence, which draws attention to this issue, and highlights good practices to end gender-based violence.

Governments have an important role to play in countering the historical and systemic silencing and marginalization of Indigenous women and girls. Australia strongly supports an intersectional approach in addressing the multiple forms of oppression to which Indigenous women and girls are subjected. This requires us to understand Indigenous issues as intertwined with struggles against colonialism, patriarchy, poverty, racism and violence. Australia was proud to endorse the CEDAW General Recommendation on the rights of Indigenous women in 2022.

Stopping violence against women and children is everyone’s responsibility, and Australia is committed to progressing efforts to achieve this goal. As part of our Closing the Gap initiative, we will work to reduce rates of violence against Indigenous women and children by at least 50 per cent, on progress towards zero, by 2031.

Much is being done to respond to, reduce and rid the world of sexual- and gender-based violence which remains persistent. Given the multiple, interconnected, complex challenges, Australia is interested in the Special Rapporteur’s insights and recommendations for focusing limited resources for maximum effect.