Performance or performativity? Australia’s membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12517878 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amy Maguire (0000-0002-3038-5517, Newcastle Law School, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia), Fiona McGaughey (0000-0001-5992-9939, UWA Law School, The University of Western Australia, WA, Australia, corresponding author), Georgia Monaghan (Newcastle Law School, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 317-338 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Human Rights (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1323-238X • E-ISSN: 2573-573X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1323238x.2019.1646207 |
| OpenAlex | W2969839513 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
Scholarship to date has analysed the politics surrounding the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council) and examined the Universal Periodic Review. Less has been uncovered about what states are doing as Council members. Is their human rights ‘performance’, namely their behaviour, enhanced by Council membership? Or is Council membership more about ‘performativity’ – that is, the use of language as a form of action with the intention of effecting changes in the performance of other actors? This paper introduces these questions in the context of Australia’s 2018–2020 Council membership term. The potential impacts of membership for Australia are salient given its lack of a constitutional or statutory Bill of Rights and the lack of any regional human rights mechanism in the Asia-Pacific. Australia’s bid for a seat on the Council had five pillars: gender equality, good governance, freedom of expression, rights of Indigenous peoples, and strong national human rights institutions and capacity building. The paper assesses Australia’s performance and performativity in relation to a selection of its voluntary pledges as a Council member. We reflect on the challenges inherent in holding states to their human rights obligations when international institutions struggle to require accountability, transparency and verifiability of commitments
Human rights · Performativity · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration
Case Study Research
The United Nations Human Rights Council
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Australian Human Rights Commission
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Law
Human Rights and the Universal Periodic Review
The Role and Influence of Non-governmental Organisations in the Universal Periodic Review—International Context and Australian Case Study
The Bali Nine, Capital Punishment and Australia's Obligation to Seek Abolition
The challenges and limitations of Opcat national preventive mechanisms
UN decision on Marlon Noble case
Rhetorical Inaction? Compliance and the Human Rights Council of the United Nations
The Treatment of Australian Children in Detention
The Politics of Shame
Does the UN Human Rights Council Help or Hurt Religious Repression
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |