Since our establishment in 2006, the Human Rights Law Centre has made a major contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia.

This impact was recognised in 2009, when the Centre was conferred with a High Commendation by the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Law Council of Australia for ‘efforts to overcome discrimination and promote equality through the practice of law’ and as an ‘organisation which consistently demonstrates an unreserved commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia’.

Recent highlights of the highlights and impacts of the work of our dedicated staff, partners and donors include the following:

• In 2010/11, the estimated value of our pro bono work was at least $3 million, a return on investment of around 600% on our 2010/11 income.
• In 2007, the HRLC secured constitutional recognition and protection of the human right to vote in the landmark High Court case of Roach v Commonwealth.
• Over the last 5 years, we have coordinated a number of major reports on the state of human rights in Australia to United Nations human rights bodies. Our 2009 report to the Human Rights Committee was endorsed by over 220 NGOs and described by the Vice-Chair as ‘a model of professional NGO contribution’. Similarly, our 2009 report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was cited as ‘best practice’.
• In 2010, we secured judicial recognition of the fundamental importance of prisoner rights and prisoner access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, in the case of Castles v Secretary to the Department of Justice [2010].
• Our work over a number of years at both national and international levels led to the passage of federal legislation which enacts a specific criminal offence of torture and comprehensively abolishes the death penalty.
• In 2010/11, we made 50 major policy and law reform submissions, which were cited an average of 12 times each in the reports and responses of the national and international bodies to which they were directed.
• In August 2010, in response to reports and lobbying by the HRLC, a high-level UN human rights committee called on Australia to enact laws to regulate the regulate the extra-territorial activities of Australian corporations which may impact on human rights abroad. This was the first time that a UN treaty body had called on a state to take action on business and human rights.
• In 2011, we obtained a landmark judgment from the UN Human Rights Committee, Nystrom v Australia, regarding the rights of non-nationals and the protection of children and families.
• In 2010, we restored the right to vote to 100,000 Australians disenfranchised by the early close of the electoral roll through our successful High Court action in Rowe v Australian Electoral Commission & Commonwealth [2010].
• As recommended by the HRLC in submissions to government and parliamentary committees, the Australian Government has committed to tabling in Parliament all recommendations made by UN human rights bodies, and to establish a systematic process for the regular review of Australia’s reservations to international human rights treaties.

An Independent Evaluation of the Human Rights Law Centre by Jackson Consulting and Melbourne Law School in 2008 found that:

• The Centre is a significant player in human rights in Australia and is increasingly influential in the international human rights arena.
• The Centre has made a significant and positive contribution to the promotion of human rights through its case work, litigation, policy work and educational activities.
• The planning, operations and governance of the Centre are ‘exemplary’.
• Further funding is required to expand the Centre’s operations without diluting effectiveness.