Human Rights & The Australian Defence Force - Response to: How could Australia better protect and promote human rights and responsibilities?

Abstract

The ADF has often been literally at the sharp end of seeking to uphold human rights around the world, and it has also been accused of not meeting human rights standards at various times. The implications of enhanced human rights protections in Australia are potentially of profound significance to the ADF and its operations. The ADF is used to having to meet the standards of international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) and would adapt to any new human rights laws. The difference between international humanitarian law though and human rights law is that humanitarian law developed to cover military operations whereas with human rights law, military issues are usually an afterthought. As an academic who writes on the Australian Defence Force and the law, and as a reservist and former permanent naval officer, I would like to see the National Human Rights Consultation consider military issues from the outset. Discussions with academic and military colleagues have brought to my attention the experience of the UK, Canada and Germany. It illustrates that human rights laws developed for civilian society can have unexpected consequences for the military and its operations. Australia would do well to learn from these experiences so that any new enhanced human rights laws work in the unique context of the ADF and its operations.