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ESC Rights
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 [...]
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 [...]
On 20 October 2010, the Tasmanian Government released a ‘Directions Paper’ proposing a Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities for Tasmania. The Government is seeking responses to the paper by 14 January 2011. The HRLRC has prepared a comprehensive submission, Towards a Tasmanian Charter of Human Rights, which recommends that a Tasmanian Charter have the [...]
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is drafting a general comment on the right to sexual and reproductive health and has invited organisations to submit written contributions on this issue. On 8 November 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Submission to UN CESCR on the Right to Sexual and Reproductive [...]
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 [...]
Australia is to be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review process in January 2011. A coalition of 68 NGOs - coordinated by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and the National Association of Community Legal Centres - has submitted a 5 page Report to the UN Human Rights Council [...]
On 3 June 2010, the UN Special Rapportuer on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Anand Grover, released his final report following a mission to Australia in November and December 2009. The report focuses on the standard of living and quality of health care and health services for Aboriginal and Torres [...]
On 28 May 2010, the Centre made a Submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade regarding implementation of the 2009 Concluding Observations on Australia by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Centre’s submission outlines practical steps and measures, including legislative, administrative and financial measures, for the Australian Government to improve [...]
In January 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Submission to the Victorian Legislative Council Family and Community Development Committee’s inquiry into the adequacy and future directions of public housing in Victoria. The Centre submits that the future direction of public housing requires a holistic rights-based approach from government, based on the legislative [...]
On 8 October 2009 the National Human Rights Consultation Committee recommended that Australia enact a Human Rights Act. However, although the Consultation clearly demonstrated the right to adequate housing, health care and education are the ‘rights that matter most’ to Australians, the Committee further recommended that, if an Australian Human Rights Act enshrines social and [...]
A major report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth, tabled on 26 November 2009, recommends the enactment of new homelessness legislation which enshrines ‘the right of all Australians to adequate housing’. The report, Housing the Homeless, contains 15 recommendations aimed at preventing and addressing homelessness in Australia. [...]
In November 2008, the Centre was granted leave to appear as amicus curiae in a matter concerning the meaning of ‘public authority’ under the Victorian Charter. This is a question of great significance, as it is public authorities who are bound to act compatibly with and give proper consideration to human rights. The issue arose [...]
In September 2009, the HRLRC prepared a Briefing Paper on Health and Human Rights in Australia for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Anand Grover, in advance of his country mission to Australia in November and December 2009. The Briefing Paper considers a range of issues regarding realisation of the right to [...]
On 28 August 2009, the Centre made a Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth inquiry into proposed homelessness legislation for Australia. Homelessness is a human rights issue and is both a cause and a consequence of poverty and other human rights violations. Therefore, the Centre submitted that [...]
In September 2009 the Optional Protocol to the ICSECR opens for signature. The Optional Protocol to the ICESCR establishes three important mechanisms for bringing violations of economic, social and cultural rights before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, namely an individual communication mechanism, an inter-state complaint mechanism and an inquiry procedure. On [...]
UN Committee Calls on Australia to Invest in Human Rights in Landmark Report Historic First as Treaty Body Calls on Australia to Address Climate Change and Increase Foreign Aid The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has urged Australia to make human rights a priority at a time when the global financial crisis [...]
The UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights will review Australia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva on 5 and 6 May 2009. On 4 May 2009, a non-government delegation, comprising representatives from the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Kingsford Legal Centre, will brief [...]
VCAT Makes Declaration of Breach of Human Rights in Major Charter Test Case On 23 April 2009, Justice Bell, President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, handed down a much anticipated decision which discussed in detail important aspects of the application and operation of the Charter. The case concerned the compulsory medical treatment of [...]
On 8 May 2008 the Minister for Health announced a review of the Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic). In December 2008 a Consultation Paper designed to stimulate discussion and raise key issues was released. This submission by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, Dignity, Equality, Freedom and Respect: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Mental Health [Word] [...]
In late 2008, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called for submissions on its draft General Comment 20 on Non-Discrimination. The draft General Comment examines the various obligations contained in article 2(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It also analyses the prohibited grounds of discrimination and makes [...]
In May 2008, the Victorian Government Department of Human Services commenced a broad review of mental health services. People with mental illness in Victoria experience discrimination within society and the health care system which causes significant social disadvantage. The review aims to shift focus from a response based on illness and acute intervention to one [...]
On 13 March 2008, the Centre wrote to the Attorney General, the Hon Rob McClelland MP, calling on the Australian Government to strongly support the negotiation and adoption of an effective, comprehensive complaints and inquiries mechanism for the ICESCR. Click here for a copy of the letter. The UN Working Group on the Optional Protocol to [...]
On 23 November 2007, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted General Comment 19 on the Right to Social Security under article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A General Comment is an authoritative statement by a treaty body of the content and application of a particular [...]
Report to and Request for Action from UN Special Rapporteurs From 31 July to 16 August 2006, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing conducted an official country visit to Australia. In his Preliminary Observations regarding implementation of the right to adequate housing, the Special Rapporteur noted that there is a ‘serious, [...]
On 30 November 2006, the HRLRC ran a workshop with Malcolm Langford of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions on ‘Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Advocacy, Litigation and Implementation Strategies’. Click here for a copy of Malcolm Langford’s presentation.
On 19 October 2006, in conjunction with Victoria Legal Aid and Chris Boyce of Counsel, the Centre made submissions to the Victorian Court of Appeal in an appeal against sentence. The submissions pertained to the relevance of international human rights standards to the sentencing of a person with a mental illnedd. MDJ was diagnosed with chronic [...]
Paul Hunt (UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health), ‘Taking Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Seriously’, Speech to the 2006 Human Rights Dinner of the Human Rights Law Resource Centre Ltd on 29 April 2006 in Melbourne.
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