Absolutely! In the past, Australia has led the establishment of international criminal tribunals and played a leadership role in drafting human rights conventions. In the Foreign Policy White Paper 2017, Australia emphasised its support for ‘international accountability and adjudicatory mechanisms, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.’ Yet, Australia could also play an important role at home in pursuing core international crimes domestically.

Australia openly supports the exercise of universal jurisdiction and has encouraged other States to adopt it too. During the Sixth Committee at the United Nations General Assembly on the scope and application of the principle of universal jurisdiction held in 2020, Australia supported the exercise of universal jurisdiction, along with Canada and New Zealand. Indeed, the representative from Canada speaking for New Zealand and Australia, stated that all three States had ‘incorporated the principle of universal jurisdiction into their domestic legislation’, and encouraged ‘others who have not yet done so to follow suit’. Australia has most of the core international crimes defined in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes (Division 268) and torture (Division 274). Nevertheless, Australia continues to lag behind States like Germany, Senegal, Spain, Canada, US, UK, France, and many others in pursuing atrocity crimes domestically.

Given its geographic location in the world, combined with its commitment to a rules-based international order, Australia has a unique opportunity to lead the Pacific region in domestic accountability for core international crimes. Furthermore, by partnering with other like-minded States in the region, such as New Zealand, Korea and Singapore, Australia can play a role in expanding the practice of universal jurisdiction in the Region. At the very least, it would send a powerful signal to regional actors that the cost of perpetrating atrocity crimes will be high, and that Australia is not a safe haven for perpetrators.

JANA is assisting in a number of ways to increase Australia’s ability to be a more active player in domestic accountability of core international crimes.