Australia is committed to promoting compliance with international law, including to protect and promote a multilateral system that contributes to peace, global security, stability and prosperity.

Australia is committed to the peaceful resolution of international disputes including through the work of the International Court of Justice, the UN's principal judicial organ. The International Court of Justice plays a critical role in upholding international law. Australia supports the International Criminal Court and its goal of ending impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes.

Australia regularly engages with the work of the International Law Commission, which is responsible for promoting the progressive development of international law and its codification.

Australia is dedicated to alleviating human suffering and protecting civilians in times of armed conflict through the application of international humanitarian law. We have been a strong supporter of the Geneva Conventions since we first signed them in 1950 and have ratified all three Additional Protocols.

Australia has provided technical and financial assistance to help other States implement their obligations under international humanitarian law. Australia has supported post-conflict justice mechanisms, including in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

As a major coastal state with the world's third largest maritime jurisdiction, Australia has contributed strongly to the development of the international law of the sea.

In particular, we played a constructive and influential role in negotiation of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its 1994 Implementing Agreement. Australia was one of the first states to submit data, under the UNCLOS regime, on our continental shelf beyond the exclusive economic zone. The exercise helped establish concepts and precedents that many states have followed. Australia has since used its expertise to assist over 20 countries, including small island developing States in the Pacific in the preparation of their submissions.

More recently, Australia played a leading role in the development of the Agreement under UNCLOS on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement, or the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty). Australia joined almost 70 nations, including Pacific island countries, in signing the Agreement on 20 September 2023. In June 2024, Adam McCarthy, Chief Counsel and First Assistant Secretary at DFAT was elected Co-Chair of the Preparatory Commission to prepare for the entry into force of the BBNJ Agreement, along with Janine Coye-Felson, Deputy Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations.

Sanctions

Information on Australia's implementation of UN Security Council sanctions.

Counter-terrorism

Australia plays an active role in helping to build and reinforce the United Nations' capacity to confront terrorism in all its forms. International cooperation is crucial in addressing threats from terrorism. The Security Council has an important role to play in this. We have worked with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to assist them fulfil their obligations under UN Security Council resolutions 1373 and 1267.

More information on Australia's international counter-terrorism efforts.