For all the deserved criticism our legal system gets from time to time, Australians can count their blessings when they look at recent events in China and the Gulf. The appalling treatment given to Australian national James Peng and the inhuman treatment given to women, especially foreign maids, in some Gulf countries reveal an absence of civilised behaviour.
Australia and other western countries are frequently attacked for meddling in internal affairs or not understanding cultural differences when they criticise human-rights breaches in other countries.
But there are certain values that transcend culture and breach of them by nations is of international concern. Paramount is the rule of law. A sub-set of that is no retrospectivity, a right to representation, to know the case against you and have a proper chance to test it by calling witnesses and testing prosecution witnesses, no double jeopardy no arbitrary arrest, no personal influence, and so on. Other human values include no capital punishment (especially for juveniles) or cruel or unusual punishment.
In the Peng case and the case of Sarah Balabagan, the Filipino teenager in sentenced to death in Abu Dhabi, most of these elemental (correct) precepts of justice have been breached.
Australia is right to protest vigorously in the Peng case, and should protest in the Balabagan case. Australia should encourage other countries to join the protest to uphold universal standards of human rights.