Universal Periodic Review Working Group – 37th Session

Universal Periodic Review of the Republic of Nauru

Statement by Australia

2 February 2021

Thank you Madame President, and Australia warmly welcomes the distinguished Minister and delegation of Nauru.

We commend the Government of Nauru for implementing several legal and policy reforms to protect the rights of women and children and people with disabilities since its last UPR. We welcome Nauru’s 2017 Domestic Violence and Family Protection Act and new policies and practices to institutionalise gender equality and the rights of people living with disability. We also welcome the establishment last year of a new Department of Persons Living with Disabilities and a separate Department of Women.

Australia commends Nauru for formally abolishing the death penalty and for decriminalising same-sex relations between consenting adults in 2016.

Australia recommends that Nauru:

1. Ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
2. Take steps to formalise equitable access to all social benefits through regulation and policy.
3. Establish a National Human Rights Institution compliant with the Paris Principles.