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Featured Article
Australia’s anti-discrimination laws must be amended to comply with international human rights standards and contribute to a fairer, healthier, more inclusive and prosperous community. In a major submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General, who is reviewing the laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for the Government to use this critical opportunity to address gaps [...]
The Australian Constitution should be amended to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and prohibit racial discrimination in line with key recommendations of an Expert Panel appointed by the Federal Government. “All political parties should show principled leadership and support the Expert Panel’s recommendations. The evidence is clear that Australians support equality, fairness, recognition [...]
To celebrate Human Rights Week 2011, law firms Blake Dawson, DLA Piper and Mallesons Stephen Jaques will match your donations to the Human Rights Law Centre. This means that for every dollar you donate to us between 5 and 10 December, we’ll receive another dollar from our law firm partners! Make a donation and double [...]
The passage of important legislation which requires the Federal Parliament to consider international human rights obligations when passing new laws has been warmly welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre. “The Federal Parliament has today taken a critical step in respecting and promoting human rights,” said Ben Schokman, the HRLC’s Director of International Human Rights [...]
Victoria Police must take a new approach to handling confrontation with people in crisis, the Human Rights Law Centre has said, following today’s release of the findings of the coronial inquest into the 2008 police shooting of Melbourne teenager Tyler Cassidy. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Anna Brown, said it is [...]
Reform of the regulation, training and monitoring of police use of force is necessary to enhance community safety and ensure Victoria Police comply with human rights. Victoria Police use force, on average, every 2.5 hours. Almost three quarters of these incidents involve the use of capsicum spray. There have been at least 12 people shot [...]
In a landmark decision, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has held that Australia violated the human rights of a permanent resident, and breached its international legal obligations, by cancelling his visa and deporting him to Sweden. Stefan Nystrom was deported from Australia on 29 December 2006 after the government cancelled his visa on the [...]
Australian law must be strengthened to prevent Australian officials from directly or indirectly exposing people to serious human rights violations, including torture and the death penalty. The Federal Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs is currently examining a Bill to amend the Extradition Act and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act. [...]
Australia should consider “overarching human rights framework” for foreign policy, says parliamentary committee A joint parliamentary committee has recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade attach further importance to human rights in its work. On 21 July, the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade published its Review of the DFAT Annual [...]
A coalition of leading international and domestic NGOs has presented a major paper to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on strengthening the UN human rights treaty bodies. The Pretoria Statement – which was prepared by NGOs including Amnesty International, the International Service for Human Rights, the Centre for Human Rights (South [...]
On 6 July 2011, the Foreign Minister announced a comprehensive new strategy for Australia’s aid and development program. The strategy was developed in response to the report of a major independent review of the effectiveness and efficiency of Australia’s program. Launching the strategy, Minister Rudd outlined that “the fundamental purpose of Australian aid is to [...]
The HRLC has made a submission to the review of the Victorian Charter, which is being undertaken by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. Using an evidence-based approach, the HRLC has emphasised that the review should be used as an opportunity to strengthen the Charter and certainly not, in any way, to limit or [...]
Australia faced a hard sell to defend its human rights record when it appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 8 June 2011. Australia’s delegation delivered its formal response to 145 recommendations made as part of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process, which reviews the human rights records of all 192 United [...]
The Australian Government has today formally responded to recommendations made by the UN’s Human Rights Council in February this year, claiming it will accept, at least in part, 90 percent of the recommendations arising from the Universal Periodic Review process. Whilst welcoming the majority of the Government’s response, the Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of [...]
On 31 May 2011, the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and Foreign Debt tabled a report on his February 2011 country mission to Australia in the UN Human Rights Council. The mission focused on the human rights impacts and implications of Australia’s aid, development, trade and investment policies. The report contains 10 concrete recommendations for [...]
On 30 May 2011, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, delivered her report on the global state of human rights to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report deals with a wide range of international human rights issues, including Australia’s policy of mandatory immigration detention and the ongoing issue of [...]
Australia’s human rights record was scrutinised by the UN Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review Process in January 2011. During that review, a significant number of countries asked questions and made recommendations about Australia’s immigration policies and the practice of mandatory detention. Australia gave a preliminary oral response to those questions during the [...]
Ever since its enactment in 2006 as the first state human rights act, the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities has attracted exaggerated claims from politicians, being described as everything from ‘powerful’ and ‘transformative’ to ‘dangerous’ and ‘weak’. Five years on the Charter is being reviewed. It is imperative that this review be guided [...]
The Australian Government has a legal obligation to implement key human rights reforms, according to a new submission from the Human Rights Law Centre [submission and annexure]. The submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department considers each of 145 recommendations made to Australia by the international community during Australia’s Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human [...]
The Gillard Government is consolidating federal anti-discrimination laws into a single Equality Act. The process has been promoted as an exercise in addressing inconsistencies and reducing regulation. The Government should show that it is serious about achieving equality by ensuring that the draft Bill, due to be released later this year, also strengthens and modernises [...]
Proposed amendments to Victoria’s equal opportunity laws will perpetuate discrimination and undermine fairness and equality, writes Rachel Ball In opposition, the Victorian Coalition campaigned for a “stronger, fairer and safer” Victoria, but early hopes that Ted Baillieu would lead a government committed to fostering an inclusive and discrimination-free society are already beginning to fade. Over [...]
Australia has been called on to enact a Human Rights Act, recognise same-sex marriage, abolish mandatory immigration detention and entrench Indigenous rights in the Constitution following a major international review before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The review, known as the Universal Periodic Review, is a process which provides all 193 UN countries [...]
On 2 December 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, wrote to the Hon Robert Clark MP, Attorney-General for Victoria in the new Baillieu Government, setting out ten policies which the Centre considers the Victorian Government should implement as a matter of priority for a stronger, fairer and safer Victoria. Respect for human rights is one of the [...]
Australia is due to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review on 27 January 2011. In July 2010, a coalition of non-government organisations (NGOs) from across Australia prepared a joint NGO submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia. The submission was prepared with substantial input and guidance from a high-level NGO Working Group and [...]
The HRLRC has made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 and the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2010. Notwithstanding gaps and deficiencies in the Government’s Human Rights Framework, the HRLRC welcomes the establishment of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights [...]
The work, functioning and status of the UN Human Rights Council will be reviewed in 2011. An open-ended working group established by the Council to discuss this review is scheduled for 25 to 29 October 2010. Coincidentally, Australia will participate in the Council’s Universal Periodic Review process from early- to mid-2011. Both the Council review and [...]
A high-level UN committee has found that Australia needs to take urgent measures to address racism and racial discrimination, disadvantage and inequality. On 27 August 2010, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination released its Concluding Observations following a review of Australia’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of [...]
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has released its Concluding Observations following a review of Australia’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Committee comments on a number of positive developments in Australia and welcomes the enactment of the Paid Parental [...]
Of the myriad issues inadequately covered in the 2010 Federal Election campaign, the issues as to Australian values and identity, and how these values shape the way we understand our role and responsibility in the world, must figure high. In the leaders’ debate, for example, the only discussion of Australian foreign policy and our place [...]
Respect for human rights is the foundation of a community that is fair, just, cohesive and inclusive. The promotion and protection of human rights should be a key priority for the next Australian Government. On the international stage, Australia has a proud bipartisan history in the development of human rights laws and institutions. At home, [...]
Castles v Secretary to the Department of Justice [2010] VSC 310 (9 July 2010) On 9 July 2010, the Supreme Court of Victoria found that the plaintiff, Kimberley Castles, is entitled under s 47(1)(f) of the Corrections Act 1986 to undergo IVF treatment. The finding overturns a decision by the Secretary of the Department of [...]
On 2 June 2010, the Attorney-General introduced the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 and the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2010 in the House of Representatives. The Bills comprise key elements of the Government’s new ‘Human Rights Framework’ and have been referred by the Senate to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation [...]
On 2 June 2010, the Attorney-General introduced the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010, a key element of the Government’s new ‘Human Rights Framework’, in the House of Representatives. The Bill establishes a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, to be comprised of five members of the House of Representatives and five Senators, with two [...]
Human rights education and parliamentary engagement with human rights will be enhanced under a new “Human Rights Framework” for Australia, announced by the Attorney-General on 21 April 2010 in response to the recommendations of the National Human Rights Consultation. However, the Rudd Government’s failure to commit to a comprehensive, national Human Rights Act — a key recommendation [...]
In a landmark decision, R v Momcilovic [2010] VSCA 50 (17 March 2010), the Victorian Court of Appeal has unanimously held that: s 32(1) of the Charter is not a ‘special’ rule of statutory interpretation, but rather a statutory directive that requires all persons engaged in the task of statutory interpretation to ‘explore all possible [...]
The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission has just released a major research report on ‘Developing a Bill of Rights for the UK’. The report aims to ‘identify and explore best practice processes for developing a new Bill of Rights for the UK’. The report analyses evidence from related domestic and international experiences (including the [...]
The announcement that Victoria Police will conduct a trial to roll-out Tasers to all uniformed and traffic management police in Bendigo and Morwell leaves vulnerable groups at risk of greater harm. “This announcement reflects the race to the bottom in the Victorian Government’s pre-election law and order agenda. We are seeing good, evidence-based policy being [...]
It is almost two years since the Rudd Government issued its historic Apology to the Stolen Generations. Polling immediately prior to the Apology indicated that it remained a contentious and potentially divisive issue, with 55 per cent of Australians supporting the Government’s decision to say sorry and 36 per cent opposed. Polling conducted in the [...]
On 10 December 2009, the Centre released a paper entitled Human Rights Leadership: Initiatives to Promote Human Rights at Home and Abroad. The paper, which was provided to the Federal Government in September, proposes 20 initiatives which Australia could take to strengthen a range of normative, preventative and remedial mechanisms to protect human rights at [...]
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