Join the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, Elaine Pearson, and SBS’s Dateline presenter, Mark Davis, for updates and discussion about situations of concern in Asia including human rights abuses in West Papua and Burma, religious freedom in Indonesia, extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka. The discussion will also consider what Australia can and should do in the region to better promote and protect human rights.

Date: 12.45pm to 2.00pm on Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Venue: Maddocks, Level 6, 140 William Street, Melbourne
Cost: $20 / $15 (concession) (includes lunch)
RSVP: By 2 December 2011 (Download Booking Form Here)

About Elaine Pearson
Elaine Pearson supervises HRW’s research, reporting, monitoring, documentation and advocacy on human rights issues across Asia, especially South East Asia. She has previously worked for the International Labour Organization, the UN Development Fund for Women, and led the first trafficking program at Anti-Slavery International in London. Pearson is a frequent media commentator, writing for the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal and The Age.

About Mark Davis
Mark Davis is a presenter of SBS’s Dateline and one of Australia’s leading video journalists. His work has been recognised with five Walkley Awards, including the prestigious Gold Walkley for ‘Blood Money’, a Dateline report on the funding of pro-Indonesian militias in East Timor. His groundbreaking work in recent years has included reporting on the trial of David Hicks, securing the first interviews with the Bail Nine, and gaining unprecedented access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

This event is being co-hosted by the Human Rights Law Centre and Human Rights Watch.

A copy of the Ambassador’s speech can be found here:
“Human rights, civil society and the rule of law”.

(More photos from the event can be found here.)

Jeffrey L Bleich has been US Ambassador to Australia since November 2009. Prior to that he served as Special Counsel to President Obama at the White House and was a senior litigation partner at a leading US law firm.

Ambassador Bleich has a longstanding and outstanding commitment to human rights and international law, having served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Amicus Curiae Committee and Corporate Social Responsibility Sub-Committee, as a Board member of Human Rights Watch and as a lawyer with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He has also taught human rights and international law at UC Berkeley School of Law.

The Victorian Charter of Fundamental Rights: a case of inappropriate transplants?

Date: Thursday, 18 August 2011
Time: 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
RSVP: castan.centre@monash.edu or tel. 9905 3327
Full details: http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2011/ward-lecture.html

Dr Ward will address whether the Charter is suitable for Australian Constitutional conditions, including whether  the declaration of incompatibility is appropriate for Australia, and whether suggestions in the Brennan report recommending a federal human rights act would lead to a smoother implantation of Australia’s international human rights obligations.  Dr Ward will draw on comparative experiences from the United States and the European Union.

Angela Ward practises at the London Bar, specialising in European Union law and human rights law. She has appeared at all levels of the United Kingdom judiciary, from the House of Lords to magistrates courts, and has also petitioned the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. She was the founding editor of the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies and is a former Fellow of Magdalene College Cambridge, and Deputy Director of the Centre for European Legal Studies in the Cambridge Law Faculty. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland, and a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the Australian National University. She is a fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and the author of over 25 books and articles on EU law and human rights law. She was called to the Bar of Ireland in 2007, and has advised and appeared as counsel in Ireland in cases concerning the Irish “European Convention of Human Rights” Act.

NB: If this particular educational activity is relevant to your immediate or long term needs in relation to your professional development and practice of the law, then you should claim one ‘unit’ for each hour of attendance.

The conference is an opportunity for representatives from a range of NGOs, business, Government, members of the legal profession, academics, regulators and policy makers to share ideas and help shape Australia’s future equality laws.

International keynote speaker:
Dr Dimitrina Petrova
Dr Petrova is Executive Director of the Equal Rights Trust, a lead author of the Declaration of Principles on Equality and a former  Member of Parliament in Bulgaria. She was awarded the American Bar Association’s prestigious Human Rights Award in 1994.

Download a Registration Form here.

For more information about the HRLC’s Equality Law Reform Project, please visit: www.equalitylaw.org.au

Conference Program Summary

Enhancing Equality: The Reform of Australia’s Anti-discrimination Laws
Featuring President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Hon. Catherine Branson QC and parliamentarians.

International Trends and Best Practice Models of Promoting Equality
Featuring international guest speaker Dr Dimitrina Petrova.

The How & Why of Tackling Systemic Discrimination
Featuring Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke (VEOHRC), Sydney University academic Dr Belinda Smith and Emeritus Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Kate Pickett, world leading epidemiologists and authors of groundbreaking The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone.

Attributes & Grounds of Discrimination
Featuring advocates and experts from various sectors discussing the scope of current anti- discrimination law and potential areas of reform.

What Does Equality Mean for Duty Holders?
Perspectives from corporates, government and the community sector.

Access to Justice
Hear from those at the coal face of dispute resolution; academic and tribunal member Simon Rice, anti-discrimination law practitioner Carol Andrades and community lawyer, advocate and
experienced concilitator, Natalie Ross.

Further details to be announced soon.

Reforming Australia’s Equality Laws
8:45am to 5:15pm
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Storey Hall, RMIT, 342 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Registration Fees: $85 (Full price) $65 (NGOs)
Please RSVP by Monday 11 July

This conference has received funding assistance from the
Australian Attorney-General’s Department.

What has been the impact of the UK Human Rights Act and what might a British Bill of Rights look like?

What lessons can Australia and Victoria draw from the UK’s human rights experience?

Join the HRLC and Lord Goldsmith QC PC for this seminar on 26 May 2011 from 12:30 to 2pm at the Law Institute of Victoria, 470 Bourke St, Melbourne.

To attend the seminar, please complete and return the Registration Form.

About Lord Goldsmith

Lord Goldsmith QC PC was Attorney-General of England and Wales and Northern Ireland from 2001 to 2007.

Prior to his appointment as Attorney, Lord Goldsmith held positions as a Deputy High Court Judge, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, Council Member of the International Bar Association and Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute.

invite you to attend the

2011 Human Rights Dinner

with
Simon McKeon
Australian of the Year
and
Dr Cassandra Goldie
CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service

Details

6.45pm, Friday, 6 May 2011

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf (Hilton South Wharf entrance)
RSVP: 27 April 2011
Full price: $140
Subsidised: $80
Further details and registration form

Silent Auction

There will be a silent auction at the Dinner, featuring fabulous offerings from renowned photographer the late Wolfgang Sievers, human rights books, fine wine and other delights. Please be generous in your support for human rights and our work!

Taking Human Rights from Geneva to Geraldton and Geelong:

Using the Universal Periodic Review Process to Improve Human Rights on the Ground

with

The Hon Catherine Branson QC

Australian Human Rights Commission

Dr Annemarie Devereux

Office of International Law, Attorney-General’s Department

Ben Schokman

Human Rights Law Resource Centre

Sydney, 29 March 2011

12.30pm – 2.00pm

DLA Phillips Fox, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney

Melbourne, 6 April 2011

1.00pm – 2.30pm

Room 102, Melbourne Law School

185 Pelham Street, Carlton

RSVP by 23 March to admin@hrlrc.org.au or (03) 8636 4450

On 27 January 2011, Australia’s human rights record was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva under the Universal Periodic Review, a process which provides other countries the opportunity to ask questions and make recommendations regarding the human rights performance of the country under review.

Australia received over 145 recommendations from 50 countries. The Government was widely praised for its constructive engagement with the process and for initiatives such as the national Human Rights Framework, the Apology and the commitment to ‘Close the Gap’. However, the Government also faced calls to enact a Human Rights Act, recognise same-sex marriage, abolish mandatory detention and entrench Indigenous rights in the Constitution. The Government has committed to respond to the recommendations by June.

Join our expert panel, each of whom was in Geneva for the review, to discuss the process and the ways in which we can use the UPR to promote and protect human rights on the ground.

The seminar involved a keynote address by Professor Sarah Joseph (Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law), followed by a panel discussion chaired by Phil Lynch (Executive Director, Human Rights Law Centre) and involving Sam McLean (Deputy National Director, GetUp!), Jonathan Green (Editor, The Drum, ABC) and Alex Pagliaro (Refugee Campaign Coordinator, Amnesty International Australia).  The panel discussed the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of social media to promote and protect human rights.

A video of the event is available here.

A summary of the views of some of the leading commentators on social media and social change, including Professor Clay Shirky, Malcolm Gladwell and Evgeny Morozov, is available here.

You can follow the Human Rights Law Centre at www.twitter.com/rightsagenda and www.facebook.com/HumanRightsLawResourceCentre

“Human Rights Here and Now”

Using the Universal Periodic Review Process to Improve Human Rights on the Ground

with

Rowan McRae

Office of International Law, Attorney-General’s Department

Darren Dick

Australian Human Rights Commission

Ben Schokman

Human Rights Law Resource Centre

Co-Chaired by Tammy Solonec, Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia and Breony Allen, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights

Monday 28 March 2011

11.45am (12.00pm start) – 1.30pm

Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Level 10, 152 St Georges Terrace, Perth

Drinks and a light lunch provided.

RSVP by 24 March to Helen at HMcCartney@als.org.au or on (08) 9265 6653

Australia’s human rights record was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 January 2011 as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process which provides other countries the opportunity to ask questions and make recommendations regarding the human rights performance of the country under review. Australia received over 145 recommendations from 50 countries. The Government was praised for its constructive engagement with the process and for initiatives such as the national Human Rights Framework, the Apology and the commitment to ‘Close the Gap’. However, the Government also faced calls to enact a Human Rights Act, recognise same-sex marriage, abolish mandatory detention and entrench Indigenous rights in the Constitution. The Government must respond to the recommendations before the Human Rights Council’s next session in June 2011. Join our expert panel, each of whom was in Geneva for the review, to discuss the process and the ways in which we can use the UPR to promote and protect human rights on the ground.

Click here for a copy of the flyer.

An audio recording of the lecture is available here.

In his capacity as Independent Expert, Dr Lumina has been a leading advocate of debt relief to heavily indebted poor countries and of legislation to prevent profiteering by ‘vulture funds’.  ‘Vulture funds’ are operated by private investment firms which purchase poor countries’ foreign debt at a heavily discounted price and then seek to recover the full amount of the debt, plus interest and late fees, through legal proceedings in countries such as the US, UK and Australia.

According to Dr Lumina, “The settlement of excessive vulture fund claims by poor countries with unsustainable debt levels has a direct negative effect on the capacity of governments of these countries to fulfil their human rights obligations, especially economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to health, water and sanitation, food, housing and education.”