On 26 January 2026, Australia appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for its five-yearly Universal Periodic Review. While the review covered many issues, it had clear relevance for people with disability and the systems that affect their daily lives.
The review was informed by submissions from the Australian Human Rights Commission, UN bodies and Australian civil society, including disability organisations. At the hearing, 120 countries made around 350 recommendations to Australia. Australian Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Kretser highlighted that key issues raised included promoting the rights of people with disabilities, alongside calls for stronger legal protection and accountability.
For the disability sector, this focus is significant. International concerns reflected long-standing challenges in Australia, including restrictive practices, discrimination, barriers to justice, and weak accountability when rights are breached. These are not abstract concepts. They play out in everyday decisions about autonomy, safety, participation and dignity.
A central theme of the review was the need to better protect human rights in Australian law, including through a national Human Rights Act. For people with disability, such reform matters, but it also reinforces an essential truth: rights are realised in practice, not just policy.
As Minister Cook noted at B-HART’s Human Rights Day Symposium, “Laws alone are not enough. Real change requires systems, culture, accountability, and people working together with lived experience to turn rights into reality.”
The UN review is a reminder that service providers, boards and leaders are human rights decision-makers every day. Embedding human rights into governance, culture and decision-making is critical to ensuring people with disability experience dignity, equality and genuine inclusion.
Read the Australian Human Rights Commission’s statement on the UN review here:
https://humanrights.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/search-listing-media-releases/rights-and-freedoms/major-un-review-urges-australia-to-raise-age-of-criminal-responsibility,-adopt-human-rights-act