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Self Paced Lesson - Migration - Legislation - Subject Guide: 9: Treaties

Australia is signatory (has signed) to a substantial number of international treaties and agreements.

These can be found in a variety of sources but the most reliable source is the Australian Treaty Series on AustLII.

The Australian Treaty Series

Step 1: Go to the AustLII website. Select Treaties from the red banner. 
You will be taken to the Australian Treaties Library.

Step 2: Under the Databases heading you will be able to select Australian Treaty Series (ATS).

Browsing

At this point you can open the Australian Treaty Series (ATS) and drill down to a treaty by clicking through the relevant years.
You can use the options on the left hand side of the screen to browse:

  • by subject - note the heading for Citizenship and Migration;
  • by country; or
  • by short title.

Searching

From the AustLII Australian Treaties Library page, you can enter search terms and search within just this collection within AustLII.

For instance, if you were looking for a list of treaties dealing with refugees and persecution you might type the search:

refugee*  w/50 persecution 

(this is a Boolean search where the first term is found within 50 words of the second term. The * is a 'truncator' which allows both the words refugee and refugees to be retrieved)

Enter this search into the search box on the Australian Treaties Library page.
Search only within the Australian Treaties Series.

 

 

Take a look at the results.
One of the treaties you should have found is the Agreement relating to Refugee Seamen [1973] ATS 17.
Open this document.

Have a look at the information at the top of the document.

You will see

  • The Australian Treaty Series number
    • The citation form is
      [date] || series || number
      i.e. [1973] ATS 17
  • When the treaty was initially accepted by the UN
  • Entry into force generally
  • Entry into force for Australia
    • This is the date it was ratified by the Australian Government
  • The full text of the treaty
  • At the end of the treaty you will see additional information about the ratification and when the instrument of accession was deposited for Australia with the UN.