Australia's human rights record slammed

Amnesty International's Australian director, Claire Mallinson.

Australia has taken many backwards steps on human rights in the past year, according to the latest global stocktake by Amnesty International.

Amnesty's annual State of the World's Human Rights report takes particular aim at Australia's continued poor performance on indigenous and asylum seeker rights.

Mandatory detention, coupled with poor conditions in some detention facilities, continues to put a large number of asylum seekers at risk of mental illness and self harm, the report says.

Amnesty's Australian director, Claire Mallinson, says refugee policy continues to be dominated by short-term solutions.

"Australia should be showing real leadership on protecting and defending human rights in the region," she said.

The report also criticises the government for failing to introduce a Human Rights Act.

But it does praise Australia for committing to a national plan to reduce violence against women and children.

Looking at the wider Asia-Pacific region, Amnesty says too many governments still respond to critics with intimidation, imprisonment and even death.

"Government repression did not distinguish between those who were clamouring for civil and political rights and those whose complaints were rooted in violations of economic, social and cultural rights."

The report says growing demands for freedom across the Middle East and North Africa and the rise of social media offer an unprecedented opportunity for a human rights revolution.

"Fifty years since the Amnesty candle began to shine a light on repression, the human rights revolution now stands on the threshold of historic change," Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said.

"But there is a serious fightback from the forces of repression. The international community must seize the opportunity for change and ensure that 2011 is not a false dawn for human rights."

- AAP