Mobilising for effective redress: the role of international human rights complaints in police accountability in Victoria

This article analyses the role of international human rights complaints mechanisms in the police accountability landscape in Australia, focusing on individual complaints to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) under the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Australia is a signatory. We do so through a case study of Horvath v Australia, which involved 'a disgraceful and outrageous display of police force' against Corinna Horvath in 1996 (State of Victoria v Horvath [2002] VSCA 177, 9-10 [15]). The HRC found that Australia had violated Horvath's rights under article 2(3) of the ICCPR to an 'effective remedy' for substantive rights violations, given the difficulties she faced in accessing compensation through domestic mechanisms. Horvath's complaint was successful in spurring individual compensation and a formal apology, as well as shaping legislative reforms to civil liability for police harms. However, given the limits of these reforms and the ongoing failures of Victoria's police complaints and disciplinary processes, Australia remains in breach of its human rights obligations. Ultimately, our analysis demonstrates how the potential of human rights complaints for systemic change relies on mobilization by civil society, in the face of enduring political inertia.