Ten international civil society organisations with extensive experience in human rights and environmental issues warn that the lack of prior consultation of the 11 Indigenous Peoples of Jujuy in the approval process for the reform of the provincial constitution is incompatible with international human rights and environmental standards.
Read MoreIn light of an imminent military operation by the Israeli Defense Force in Rafah and the ongoing assault on Gaza, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister Penny Wong, Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC with an urgent call for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people.
Read MoreIn the wake of interim orders made by the International Court of Justice on 26 January 2024, the Human Rights Law Centre calls for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people, including by supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights, social services, health, youth, religious and legal advocates have expressed deep concerns in an open letter about the mistreatment of children in the Victoria’s youth prisons.
Read MoreThe United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.
Read MoreThe United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.
Read MoreAustralia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol - by 20 January 2023 - but Australian governments are not on track to meet this deadline.
Read MoreThis week, the Australian Government is set to be questioned by the United Nations anti-torture watchdog on its compliance with the UN’s anti-torture treaty - the Convention Against Torture. Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre have briefed the Committee overseeing Australia’s compliance with the anti-torture treaty, and call on the Albanese Government to end human rights abuses behind bars ahead of the country’s report being considered this week.
Read MoreA statement of concern from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Community Legal Centres NSW, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), Amnesty International Australia, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), First People’s Disability Network Australia (FPDNA) and Change the Record.
Read MoreThe Albanese Government must end the practice of locking people in immigration detention for years on end in dire conditions, human rights experts have told the United Nations, ahead of its investigation of the Australian government’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture treaty. It must also repeal laws that are resulting in record numbers of people being detained.
Read MoreIn a joint submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre call on the Albanese government to end human rights abuses in prisons and police cells. Mistreatment that can amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is too common in prisons and police cells across the country.
Read MoreThe Morrison government must ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is independent and effective, following revelations that the Commission’s “A status” may be downgraded.
Read MoreA letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member States of the United Nations in Geneva and New York from HRLC and other human rights organisations calling for Russia to be suspended from Human Rights Council.
Read MoreAustralia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol – by the end of January 2022 – but no state, territory or Commonwealth government except for Western Australia is on track to meet this deadline.
Read More12 charities including First Nations, religious and human rights groups have written to three UN Special Rapporteurs requesting urgent intervention to stop new rules being proposed by the Morrison Government which could shut charities down for speaking out.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has today refused to accept the calls of dozens of countries to stop imprisoning children under the age of 14 years old, and to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreThe Australian government has been criticised for failing to accept critical recommendations from a major UN review into its human rights record.
Read MoreAustralia’s human rights performance was in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.
Australia’s human rights performance will be in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.
In 2021 Australia will have its human rights record assessed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR provides an opportunity for other nations to identify human rights problems in Australia and make recommendations about possible solutions.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should support an urgent resolution in the UN Human Rights Council for an independent investigation into systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protest in the US, say Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations.
Read MoreAn alliance of civil society and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and senior academics have told the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the Morrison Government's response to COVID-19 that there must be greater oversight of places of detention both during the pandemic and beyond.
Read MoreMore than 200 not-for-profit and community organisations have backed a major report calling on the Australian Government to strengthen its commitment to human rights in its laws, policies and practices.
Read MoreAbdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, addressed the United Nations in Geneva to call out the Morrison Government’s continued cruel treatment of people still held on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea.
Read MoreAs International Women’s Day nears, the UN has heard that Australia is set to undermine people’s healthcare, while giving religious bodies unprecedented privileges to discriminate with laws that will make it harder for women to access contraception and abortion.
Read MoreAustralia’s human rights record is set to face intense scrutiny in 2020 when the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major four yearly human rights review.
Read MoreThere is a grave risk the Morrison Government is “stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia” if serious changes aren’t made to Australia’s social security system, the United Nations expert on poverty has warned.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has used its voice at the UN Human Rights Council to raise concerns of serious human rights abuses committed by Saudi authorities.
Read MoreA landmark, new standard has been set in international human rights guidelines with the expert UN Child Rights Committee recommending laws be changed to ensure that children under the age of 16 years "may not legally be deprived of their liberty".
Read MoreWatch the statement a 12 year old Arrernte/Garrwa child from central Australia delivered to the UN Human Rights Council.
Read MoreThis week at the United Nations in Geneva, the Committee on the Rights of the Child is reviewing the Australian Government’s track record when it comes to upholding and protecting the rights of children.
Read MoreTomorrow in Geneva, a 12 year old Arrernte/Garrwa boy from central Australia, will give a heartfelt speech at the world’s peak human rights body with a simple message for Australian governments: stop sending 10 year old children to to prison.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre joined 14 other non-governmental organisations to express concern about the governments of Human Rights Council members attacking and discrediting UN experts when human rights abuses by Council members are called out.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre and Equality Australia have joined over 1300 non-governmental organisations from 174 countries in calling for the renewal of the UN role focusing on the rights of LGBTQ people around the world.
Read MoreThe UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture announced they will visit Australia to shine a light on abuses in places of detention, including adult prisons, youth prisons, police lock-ups and immigration detention facilities.
Read MoreThis week the United Nations heard a scathing statement about a discriminatory Federal Government parenting scheme that targets Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and single mothers.
Read MoreOvernight the United Nations Human Rights Council heard of the alarming rates at which Australian governments are imprisoning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
Read MoreAbdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva overnight to call out the Morrison Government’s continued cruel treatment of over 800 people still held on Nauru and Manus Island.
Read MoreUN experts have once again urged the Australian Government to immediately provide healthcare to over 800 refugees in its care on Manus and Nauru and transfer those identified as requiring urgent care to Australia.
Read MoreIn collaboration with international NGOs, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to UN member countries to plea for the UN’s human rights mechanisms to be adequately funded.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government has failed to sign on to an International Women’s Day statement at the United Nations calling for access to safe abortions, comprehensive sexuality education and sexual reproductive health.
Read MoreOn International Women’s Day the UN will hear that the Australian Government is penalising single mothers with babies as young as six months through a punitive program that is making life harder for parents.
Read MoreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, used her address to the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council to highlight some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and called out the Australian Government’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum.
Read MoreAbdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, who has spent nearly six years detained by the Australian Government on Manus Island, overnight addressed the UN Human Rights Council to highlight the Morrison Government’s inhumane treatment of people seeking asylum.
Read MoreThe decision from Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against five Myanmar military officers responsible for human rights violations committed by units under their command has been welcomed by the Australian Council for International Development and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should immediately end its engagement with Myanmar’s military and impose sanctions on abusive military generals, the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Council for International Development said in a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council overnight.
Read More“As the Australian Government sits here on this Council, professing its commitment to human rights, it is indefinitely imprisoning 102 children in its offshore refugee camp on Nauru,” Daniel Webb told the UN Human Rights Council.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should immediately end military ties with Myanmar, Australia’s foremost international human rights and development organisations jointly said today. They called on the Australian government to impose targeted sanctions on military commanders responsible for atrocities committed against ethnic Rohingya, and to press for an international mechanism to assist future prosecutions.
Read MoreThe new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has used her maiden speech at the UN Human Rights Council to condemn the Australian Government’s indefinite offshore detention regime.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has been urged to improve its track record on women’s rights overnight by an expert UN Committee on women’s rights.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women made its criticism after a robust review earlier this month to assess Australia’s progress on ending discrimination against women.
Read MoreThe UN’s expert committee on discrimination against women has raised a series of concerns about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer women and girls in Australia.
Read MoreIndigenous advocate, Keenan Mundine, a former youth prisoner and principal consultant of Inside Out Aboriginal Justice Consultancy, has travelled to Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council about the Turnbull Government’s failure to stop ten year old children being sent to prison.
Read MoreThe Australian Government will face intense scrutiny of its treatment of women and girls in next week at the United Nations.
Read MoreFollowing the UN Human Rights Chief’s condemnation of Donald Trump’s brutality to children at the US border, the Turnbull Government’s indefinite detention of 134 refugee children has been called out at the UN Human Rights Council overnight.
Read MoreAustralian governments should respect a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body by removing abortion from criminal laws the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.
Read MoreAustralian governments should end the routine strip searching of women in prison the Human Rights Law Centre has told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.
Read MoreThe Trump administration has announced that it will quit the UN Human Rights Council, effective immediately. Daniel Webb, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, who is in Geneva for the current session of the Human Rights Council, said the move was widely expected by advocates and diplomats and is the latest step in the United States’ retreat from human rights and multilateralism.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has an opportunity to play a critical role in addressing the violence and discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people face across the globe, the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council today.
Read MoreThe Turnbull Government’s second session as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN body responsible for protecting the rights and dignity of people all over the world, will begin in Geneva tomorrow.
Read MoreIn a statement delivered in the United Nations overnight, the Human Rights Law Centre has called on the UN Human Rights Council to hold the Turnbull Government accountable for the continued suffering of 1800 refugees still languishing on Manus and Nauru after almost five years.
Read MoreAs the United Nations debates Eritrea’s troubled human rights record, an Australian mining company has taken the extraordinary step of appearing with the Eritrean regime to help it defend its actions.
Read More"Time and time again we see our Government getting all mealy-mouthed about global humanitarian emergencies when the country in question has some connection with its own refugee policies" - Our Daniel Webb reports from last night's important session of the UN Human Rights Council focusing on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.
Read MoreIn a statement to the United Nations, Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Turnbull Government to hold companies to account for human rights violations overseas.
Read MoreOvernight the Australian Government delivered a major 'incoming members pledge' to the UN Human Rights Council, promising to approach it’s three year term on the Council "in a spirit of self-reflection with a view to improving our own human rights situation" and to "make progress in the promotion, protection and realisation of human rights", "including through implementation of [UN] recommendations and resolutions."
Read MoreThe Turnbull Government’s anti-democratic slide has been criticised at the United Nations Human Rights Council overnight, with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders delivering a major report on Australian democracy.
Read MoreThe Turnbull Government will tonight begin Australia’s first ever session as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN body responsible for protecting the rights and dignity of people all over the world.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has ratified an important UN torture prevention treaty. The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) is a mechanism established to prevent cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in places of detention.
Read MoreOvernight, a UN committee of independent human rights experts told Australia to end the indefinite limbo of the 2000 men, women and children being warehoused on Manus Island and Nauru by evacuating them to safety in Australia.
Read MoreThe tide of condemnation against Australia’s human rights record is rising, with the United Nations expert panel on racial discrimination, criticising Australia’s failure to combat racism in a report released overnight.
Read MoreThe UN expert committee on racial discrimination has demanded to know why Australia is out of step with the rest of the world in criminalising primary school aged children. All Australian states and territories currently have laws that allow children as young as ten years to be charged, brought before the courts, sentenced and imprisoned.
Read MoreThe UN expert committee on racial discrimination issued a please explain to the Australian Government overnight, asking how it will eliminate racial discrimination in the remote ‘work for the dole’ program imposed on remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Read MoreThe Australian Government is bracing for another round of intense scrutiny at the United Nations – this time focusing on its efforts to combat racial discrimination.
Read MoreOvernight the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on the Australian Government to improve its track record on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) rights across the country.
Read MoreAustralia was condemned overnight by a UN Human Rights Committee for its human rights record on a range of issues including refugees, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights, youth justice and democratic freedoms.
Read MoreThe UN’s top expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has included criticism of the Australian Government in a scathing global report condemning deterrence-based responses to people seeking asylum.
Read MoreThe Australian Government was again grilled last night at the United Nations in Geneva with the Human Rights Committee taking aim at the failure to scrap the cruel fines laws that resulted in Ms Dhu’s tragic death in custody.
Read MoreJust one day after condemning the Australian Government’s “chronic non-compliance” with international human rights laws, in a further hearing overnight the expert Committee honed in on the Government’s cruelty to refugees and in particular its offshore detention regime. The Human Rights Committee described the policies as “shocking” and “disturbing”.
Read MoreOvernight Australia was slammed by the UN Human Rights Committee for its “chronic non-compliance” with, and disengagement from, that Committee’s work. Australia’s record on human rights was found lacking as part of the Committee’s review into Australia’s protection of civil and political rights.
Read MoreHot on the heels of its appointment to the UN Human Rights Council, the Australian Government faced a grilling from UN experts about its own human rights performance. Our lawyers were in Geneva to help brief the Committee and present a report endorsed by 56 Australian organisations highlighting how Australia was failing to meet the standards it promised to uphold.
Read MoreDuring the same week that Australia is expected to be granted a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an expert UN committee will grill the Australian Government over its own human rights record.
Read More“This is the most significant UN position Australia has sought since the Security Council. Relatively speaking Australia is likely to be a positive force for reform on the Council, but if it wants to have the credibility required to be a true human rights leader it can't continue to blatantly breach international law itself. There's no doubt that it's cruel treatment of refugees will hamstring Australia's efforts on Council," said Emily Howie.
Read MoreThe United Nations has been asked to urgently intervene to halt the Australian Government’s moves to make refugees and people seeking asylum destitute as a means of coercing them to return to danger and harm on Nauru or Manus Island.
Read MoreResponding to reports that France has withdrawn its candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council – meaning Australia and Spain can be elected to the world’s peak human rights body unopposed – Emily Howie, a Director of Legal Advocacy at the HRLC, said Australia has work to do in order to fulfill the duties of a Council member.
Read MoreThe Australian Government must evacuate every man, woman and child currently warehoused on Manus and Nauru and bring them to safety in Australia, the United Nations said overnight.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be denied basic rights the United Nations reported overnight.
Read MoreAddressing the UN earlier this week in a statement to the Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Law Centre called on all UN member states to cooperate with the first United Nations independent expert tasked with combating the unacceptable violence and discrimination faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people around the world.
Read MoreAs the Australian Government campaigns for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families are being torn apart by punitive laws and a lack of investment in community-based prevention programs, the UN heard overnight.
Read MoreThe Australian government must immediately evacuate every person warehoused on Nauru and Manus to safety if it wants to be taken seriously as a human rights leader, the Human Rights Law Centre told the United Nations Human Rights Council in a statement delivered overnight.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to use his PNG trip – which comes at a critical juncture in Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council - to make arrangements for refugees and people seeking asylum languishing on Manus Island to be immediately evacuated to safety.
Read More“The push to weaken the laws by some has run aground. It’s hard to imagine what those pushing for change want people to be able to say that they currently can’t. Any move to weaken the law itself would have sent a green light to racism,” said the Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Legal Advocacy, Adrianne Walters.
Read MoreThe UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, today condemned the Australian Government’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum, saying that Australia’s human rights record has been tarnished.
Read MoreThe Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, unveiled a much-needed initiative to help combat the growing problem of governments preventing human rights defenders from engaging with the UN or punishing and even imprisoning them when they do so.
Read MoreAustralia is failing to provide a safe and free environment for civil society and to ensure that people are free to speak out and peacefully protest on issues that they care about, said a UN Human Rights expert today. Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, has been in Australia for a two-week official visit, meeting with government, MPs and civil society organisations.
Read MoreAustralia’s youth justice practices breach international human rights law, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Law Centre told the United Nations in a statement read before the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Read MoreThe secrecy provisions of the 2015 Border Force Act have compromised Australians’ basic democratic rights and damaged Australia’s international standing, the Human Rights Law Centre told the United Nations overnight in a statement to the Human Rights Council.
Read MoreThe UN’s human rights chief, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Australia to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
Read MoreThe United Nations Human Rights Council is on the cusp of establishing an Independent Expert to tackle violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Human Rights Law Centre joined in a statement delivered to the Council in Geneva overnight supported by 627 civil society organisations representing 151 countries.
Read MoreEach year the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) hosts the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct where representatives from civil society, business, governments and trade unions meet to discuss and promote better business practices.
Read MoreThe Australian Government’s response overnight at the UN in Geneva to a major review of its human rights record has failed to address the serious concerns raised by the international community.
Read MoreAs Australia undermines international efforts to address Burma’s significant human rights challenges, it also misses an opportunity to establish its credentials as a global human rights leader, the Human Rights Law Centre has warned today.
Read MoreThree UN human rights experts urged the Western Australian parliament not to adopt a proposed law that would criminalise peaceful protests and silence environmentalists and human rights defenders.
Read MoreThe HRLC’s Director of Advocacy and Research, Emily Howie, said that the Australia needs to improve its human rights record and that the HRLC has advocated for the establishment of an Australian human rights ambassador to promote and coordinate human rights within and across foreign policy since 2009.
Read MoreThe United Nations has intervened in the plight of 267 vulnerable people that the Australian Government intends to deport to offshore camps, warning the Government to adhere to its obligations under the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against torture and other cruel treatment.
Read MoreAustralia’s treatment of asylum seekers received unprecedented condemnation from the international community as the Government appeared before the Human Rights Council in Geneva overnight for its major four yearly human rights review in a process known as the ‘Universal Periodic Review’.
Read MoreAs the UN celebrates it's 70th birthday, the HRLC's Anna Brown looks at Australia’s involvement in the success and also the need to confront the current weakness of our leadership on human rights.
Read MoreThe HRLC has joined with Human Rights Watch to produce a report detailing how Australia can “lift its game” on human rights at home and abroad in order to strengthen its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Read MoreThere are some immediate, simple steps, new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull can take to improve human rights in Australia. Our Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser outlines five priorities.
Read MoreIn the lead up to Australia’s review by the UN Human Rights Council, the Australian NGO Coalition has released a series of Fact Sheets and held a briefing event to inform UN member states about the human rights situation in Australia.
Read MoreAustralia should demonstrate its international human rights leadership by leading action at the Human Rights Council to address the urgent human right situation in Egypt, human rights organisations said in a joint letter to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
Read MoreAustralia is using ever more radical measures to prevent people from seeking its protection and demonstrating increasing contempt towards the United Nations human rights system, the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council this week.
Read MoreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has delivered a scathing assessment of Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva overnight.
Read MoreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has condemned Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council overnight.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has secretly returned 46 asylum seekers to Vietnam without any transparency or due process. Late on Friday 17 April, when news first broke that the asylum seekers were in Australian custody somewhere on the high seas, the Human Rights Law Centre sent a an urgent communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Read MoreAustralia was recently reviewed by the UN Committee against Torture for its compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly referred to as the Convention Against Torture.
Read MoreAt the most recent United Nations Human Rights Council in March, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture tabled a report outlining the current international benchmarks expected of countries when it comes to detaining children in criminal and civil contexts. The HRLC’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said the report is a reminder that Australia needs to change its youth justice policies in order to meet international standards.
Read MoreAustralia’s steadily deteriorating human rights performance has been highlighted in a major report compiled by nearly 200 organisations around Australia. It will be presented to the United Nation’s peak human rights body in the lead up to a major review of Australia that takes place every four years.
Read MoreThe United Nations’ peak human rights body will tonight be urged to question Australia on its increasingly regressive approach to human rights in the lead up to a major review.
Read MoreThe mother of fifteen year old Melbourne boy, Tyler Cassidy, who was shot dead by police in 2008, has progressed her individual communication to the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee aimed at highlighting Australia’s failure to ensure police-related deaths are properly investigated by an independent body.
Read MoreThe United Nations Special Rapportuer on Torture has found that various aspects of Australia’s asylum seeker policies violate the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Read MoreConfirmation that the Attorney-General sought the resignation of the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission reveals the depths of the Government’s willingness to undermine Australia’s independent human rights watchdog, said the Human Rights Law Centre. “This is a blatant political attack to punish the Commission for doing its job reporting on the harm being inflicted on children in detention,” said the HRLC’s Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser. Read More
Australia should repeal excessive restrictions on the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, according to a new report to be considered by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s director of advocacy and research, Emily Howie, is in the UK attending a Wilton Park meeting on strengthening the UN human rights treaty monitoring system. The meeting brings together representatives from government, civil society, the UN system and national human rights systems to discuss ways to improve states’ compliance with their international human rights law obligations and their implementation of the recommendations and views of UN bodies.
Read MoreThe United Nations Committee Against Torture has overnight condemned Australia’s asylum seeker policies and expressed serious concerns at the rates of violence against women and indigenous imprisonment.
Read MoreAustralia is in breach of its human rights obligations by allowing children to be sentenced to life in prison without the genuine possibility of parole, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared.
Read MoreAustralia’s asylum seeker policies and counter-terror laws came under heavy scrutiny overnight at the United Nations in Geneva when Government officials were questioned by the UN Committee Against Torture.
Read MoreAustralia’s form is bad and getting worse when it comes to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, the United Nations will hear tomorrow.
Read MoreJared Genser and Bruno Stagno Ugarte (eds), The United Nations Security Council in the Age of Human Rights, Cambridge University Press, 2014 reviewed by the HRLC’s Emily Howie
Read MoreAustralia is scheduled to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of Australia ('UPR') in 2015. This is an opportunity for non-government organisations (‘NGOs’) across Australia to prepare a joint NGO submission to the UPR.
Read MoreThe United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a landmark resolution on combating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The HRLC’s Directory of Advocacy, Anna Brown, was present in Geneva and worked together with advocates on the passage of resolution.
Read MoreThe United Nation’s Human Rights Council – the world’s peak human rights body – has been alerted to Australia’s rapidly increasing imprisonment rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Read MoreIn his maiden speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, will condemned Australia for violating the human rights of asylum seekers.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has joined with 12 other NGOs to urgently call for greater accountability for police misconduct in Victoria in the wake of a UN Human Rights Committee finding in favour of Ms Corinna Horvath who was brutally assaulted by police in 1996 and is yet to receive adequate compensation for her injuries.
Read MoreThe HRLC last night sent a request for urgent action to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The request relates to two groups of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, including at least 37 children, who were reportedly travelling to Australia to claim protection but have not been heard from for four days after reportedly being intercepted by Australian authorities.
Read MoreThe HRLC’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Anna Brown, said Australia was failing to live up to a number of the promises it made three years ago when its human rights record came under scrutiny during its regular review by its peers at the UN – a process known as the Universal Periodic Review.
Read MoreAustralia’s unlawful and increasingly punitive treatment of asylum seekers has once again been condemned on the world stage. Overnight a statement prepared by the Human Rights Law Centre was delivered to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, the world’s peak human rights body.
Read MoreIn an extremely unprincipled foreign policy decisions, Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, has aligned Australia with countries known for their obstructionist approach at the UN with her comments expressing disappointment with the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to initiate an independent investigations into war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
Read MoreAustralia has one last opportunity this week to publicly support a US-led initiative at the United Nations to end impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final phases of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009.
Read MoreAustralia’s unlawful and increasingly harsh and punitive treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat will once again be brought the attention of the world’s peak human rights body this evening when the Human Rights Law Centre addresses the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Read MoreAustralia violates its international law obligations by aiding the Sri Lankan government to intercept asylum seekers fleeing that country, the United Nations Human Rights Council has been told overnight in Geneva.
Read MoreAustralia must review its offshore processing arrangements with PNG and Nauru to ensure the basic rights of asylum seekers are being respected, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. Ms Pillay has released the opening statement on her 2013 Annual Report, discussing issues of worldwide human rights concern.
Read MoreA new complaints mechanism under the UN Convention on Rights of Child is about to take effect. On 14 January 2014, Costa Rica became the tenth state to ratify the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, meaning that three months’ time, on 14 April 2014, the complaints mechanism will come into force.
Read MoreUrgent action from the United Nations has been requested in an attempt to prevent the Queensland Government from passing draconian youth justice laws. The reforms include removing the principle that the detention of juveniles be a measure of last resort.
Read MoreAustralia should come clean about its role in the controversial American armed drone program after two United Nations human rights experts called for an end to the secrecy shrouding the US program.
Read MoreWhen Australia – one of the ICC’s strongest supporters – was elected to the Security Council for 2013 and 2014, Amnesty International and other supporters of international justice hoped that it would work to challenge many aspects of the Security Council’s approach writes Amnesty International's Legal Adviser, Jonathan O'Donohue.
Read MoreFrom 15-17 November 2013, Sri Lanka will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, following which Sri Lanka will chair the Commonwealth for two years. Many rights groups have raised concerns about Sri Lanka’s suitability to host CHOGM, and to hold the position as chair, given the serious human rights issues that remain unresolved in the country.
Read MoreThe head of a UN-appointed inquiry into human rights in North Korea reported that testimony heard so far by his panel pointed to widespread and serious violations in every area it had been asked to investigate. “What we have seen and heard so far – the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony – appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world community, and accountability on the part of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Michael Kirby, chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK, said in an oral update to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
Read MoreAustralia is violating the fundamental human rights of people seeking its protection, the UN Human Rights Council will hear this evening.
Read MoreTasmania’s acting Commissioner for Children Elizabeth Daly has released the Alternatives to Secure Youth Detention in Tasmania report advocating for a justice reinvestment framework. The report calls for young offenders to be diverted away from the criminal justice system in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Read MoreThe office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launched a new public information campaign to raise awareness of homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination and to promote respect for the rights of LGBT people. The campaign will focus on the need for legal reforms and public education.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre and the International Service for Human Rights have published a Guide for Human Rights Defenders on Domestic Implementation of UN Human Rights Recommendations. The Guide is intended to assist NGOs with national level strategies to ensure that UN recommendations are properly recognised and implemented.
Read MoreSerious violations continue to blight Australia's human rights record, according to a joint statement delivered to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva by the Human Rights Law Centre's Director of Advocacy, Anna Brown.
Read MoreWith the help of the Human Rights Law Centre, the mother of Melbourne teenager, Tyler Cassidy, who was shot dead by police in 2008, has filed a communication with the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee to highlight Australia’s failure to ensure police-related deaths are properly investigated by an independent body.
Read MoreIn May 2013 Shani Cassidy submitted a communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of her son, Tyler, who was shot by Victoria Police in December 2008.
Read MorePresident Rajapaksa’s assurances to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate allegations of war crimes by all sides remain unmet, Human Rights Watch said.
Read MoreFive major UN humanitarian agencies have made a joint appeal to the international community to act in Syria
Read MoreThe UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women have expressed serious concerns that cuts to payments to single parents may be a violation of Australia’s international human rights obligations.
Read MoreOn 2 April the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of controlling the movement of weapons across borders in the first ever treaty on the international trade of arms.
Read MoreIn his authoritative report presented to the Human Rights Council on 4 March, UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Méndez takes a new, groundbreaking look at different aspects of healthcare treatment that he claims amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or torture.
Read MoreThe UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women has expressed serious concerns that cuts to payments to single parents may be a violation of Australia’s international human rights obligations.
Read MoreThe UN Human Rights Council will be reviewing the human rights situation of Sri Lanka during its upcoming session in March.
Read MoreThe UN Human Rights Committee has recognised extraterritorial obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. On 31 October 2012, in its Concluding Observations on Germany's sixth periodic review under the ICCPR, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern regarding steps taken by Germany to protect against the human rights impacts of German companies operating abroad.
Read MoreOn 24 January 2013, Nauru acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), committing the Nauruan Government to establish an independent body to visit and review places in Nauru where people are deprived of their liberty.
Read MoreThe 11th Session of Assembly of States Parties for the International Criminal Court took place in The Hague from 14–21 November 2012.
Read MoreThe UN Human Rights Committee has asked Australia to explain how a range of laws, policies and practices are compatible with international human rights standards ahead of a major review of Australia’s human rights record.
Read MoreAs Australia focuses on the passage of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, has released her Annual Report for 2012.
Read MoreOn 11 December 2012, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – Joined by international musical artists Ricky Martin and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, amongst others – called for an end to violence and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Read MoreIn offering redress to victims of torture and their families, “restoration of the dignity of the victim is the ultimate objective,” according to the UN Committee against Torture. The Committee has just published a detailed General Comment expanding on the key article in the Convention against Torture which says that victims of torture and their families have “an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible”.
Read More“Trafficking in persons is a global phenomenon which crosses borders, markets and industries,” said United Nations Special Rapporteur Joy Ngozi Ezeilo while urging business enterprises around the world to refrain from using trafficked labour, and prevent and monitor the use of such labour by its suppliers.
Read MoreAustralia is scheduled to be reviewed by the UN Committee against Torture for its compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2013.
Read MoreTogether with a group of leading human rights and community organisations, the HRLC has provided a private briefing to the UN Human Rights Committee on the state of human rights in Australia.
Read MoreAustralia has a critical role to play in focusing the the UN Security Council’s attention more sharply on global human rights issues and situations of concern.
Read More"Today marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Without doubt this international instrument has already been established universally as a human rights benchmark to confirm the indigenous peoples of the world are equal to all other peoples. This achievement, within the first five years of its life, is verification that the rights of our peoples, encompassing social organisation, cultures, territories and development, are progressively being acknowledged."
Read MoreIn June this year the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report setting out a series of recommendations for strengthening the treaty body system. Those recommendations were based on the outcomes of a series of consultations that had been held since late 2009, known informally as the ‘Dublin process’.
Read MoreThe Australian Government’s failure to implement more than 20 recommendations from the UN Human Rights Committee highlights the need to make the promotion and protection of human rights a national priority.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings to urgently investigate Australia’s extensive support for an Indonesian police unit implicated in serious human rights abuses in the province of West Papua.
Read MoreThe Australian Government’s failure to implement more than 20 recommendations from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee highlights the need to make the promotion and protection of human rights a national priority. Making a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee – which is preparing for a major review of Australia’s human rights record – the Human Rights Law Centre criticised the Australian Government for dragging its feet in a number of key areas of human rights concern.
Read MoreIn a ground-breaking resolution, the United Nation’s premier human rights forum, the Human Rights Council, has called for Paris Principles-compliant national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to be able to participate in other UN meetings and forums, including the UN General Assembly.
Read MoreThe Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (National Children’s Commissioner) Bill has been passed to create a new Commissioner position that will monitor whether Australia is adhering to its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Read MoreMs Navi Pillay, having been appointed to a second term as the High Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the 20th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on 18 June. Ms Pillay reminded delegates that the “backdrop of crises” – political, economic and humanitarian – against which they now meet pose serious obstacles to the realisation of human rights across the globe.
Read More“The establishment of the human rights treaty bodies and the evolution of the treaty body system is one of the greatest achievements in the efforts of the international community to promote and protect human rights,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in her report on the strengthening of the human rights treaty body system.
Read MoreThe UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has handed down a damning report on Australia following its periodic review which took place on 4 and 5 June. The Committee’s “Concluding Observations” are a comprehensive set of recommendations to Australia on steps it should take to ensure better compliance with its international legal obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Read MoreThe UN Secretary-General has announced that the new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child will open for signature on 28 February 2012. Any State that has signed, ratified or acceded to the Convention or either of the two existing Optional Protocols will be able to sign the new Optional Protocol, which will create an international complaints mechanism forbreaches of children’s rights.
Read MoreThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, has concluded her country visit to Australia.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should take a leadership role in promoting and protecting human rights in the troubled Indonesian province of West Papua say two leading human rights organizations in a Joint Letter to the Foreign Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreAustralia 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 Nations Member States.
Read MoreThe 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 International Human Rights Advocacy, Ben Schokman, said the ten percent the Government has rejected contain some of the most significant recommendations.
Read MoreOn 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 Indigenous disadvantage and disempowerment. T
Read MoreAustralia’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.
Read MoreThe United Nation’s Independent Expert on the Effects of Foreign Debt and other Related International Financial Obligations on Human Rights, Dr Cephas Lumina, will visit Australia this week to discuss efforts to prevent profiteering by vulture funds. Vulture funds are operated by private investment firms which purchase foreign debt of developing countries at a heavily discounted price and then seek to recover the full amount of debt with significant interest and spurious fees through legal proceedings based in countries such as the US, UK and Australia.
Read MoreIn December 2010, the UN Committee against Torture issued a ‘List of Issues Prior to Reporting’ for Australia. The purpose of this List is to outline those issues which the Committee would like Australia to address and respond to in its next periodic report to the Committee, due in 2012.
Read MoreOn 3 September 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, together with the International Service for Human Rights and the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team, provided a Brief on the Pacific Region to Ms Margaret Sekaggya, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, in advance of her visit to Fiji scheduled for 6 to 10 September 2010. The brief is based on desktop research and provides preliminary or background information on human rights structures, initiatives and issues in the Pacific region.
Read MoreThis Tuesday 10 August 2010 the Australian Government will attend a hearing at the United Nations in Geneva to explain some of its most controversial policies to an expert body on racism. The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination has asked Australia to provide it with information on how Australia is performing its legal obligations to respect, protect and promote the human right to equality and freedom from racial discrimination.
Read MoreAustralia 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 Australia
Read MoreAustralia is scheduled to be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in relation to its compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in Geneva in August 2010. In July 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, together with the National Association of Community Legal Centres, submitted a major NGO submission on Australia to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Read MoreAustralia is to be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review process in January 2011. A coalition of NGOs has prepared a 5 page report on human rights in Australia, setting out key issues and concrete recommendations. The principal authors of the report are the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre and the National Association of Community Legal Centres.
Read MoreOn 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 Strait Islanders, people in prison and immigration detainees.
Read MoreThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of Indigenous people has released a key report on the severe disadvantage suffered by Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Read MoreThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of Indigenous peoples, James Anaya, has released an advance copy of his Observations on the Northern Territory Emergency Response. The report follows Mr Anaya's official visit to Australia in August last year. While the Special Rapporteur acknowledges Australia's efforts to address the conditions faced by many Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, he expresses serious concerns about several problematic aspects of the Northern Territory Emergency Response that breach Australia’s international legal obligations.
Read MoreThe 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 threatens the dignity, equality and freedom of many poor and vulnerable groups. In a landmark report, the Committee also called on Australia to take urgent action to address the human rights implications of climate change and to increase aid to developing countries; the fist time that a UN treaty body has included recommendations on these issues in a human rights report.
Read MoreThe 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 the Committee on the state of human rights in Australia and measures to improve performance. The Committee will release its report on Australia on or around 22 May 2009.
Read MoreThe UN Human Rights Committee has released its Concluding Observations following a review of Australia's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee's recommendations on Australia are the first since 2000 and an important test for the Rudd Government in light of its Security Council bid and its stated commitment to 'human rights leadership'. The Committee comments on a number of positive human rights developments in Australia, including the National Human Rights Consultation and the Apology to the Stolen Generations. However, the Committee also raises a number of serious concerns and makes concrete recommendations for reform.
Read MoreThe UN Human Rights Committee will review the state of human rights in Australia in March 2009 in New York. On 16 and 23 March, the Committee will be briefed by a coalition of leading Australian human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Amnesty International. On 23 and 24 March, the Committee will receive submissions from a high-level delegation from the Australian Government. It will release its report on Australia on or around 3 April.
Read MoreIn late 2008, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called for submissions on its draft General Comment 20 on Non-Discrimination.
Read MoreJust a few months after ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Australian Government has initiated a consultation on the Optional Protocol to the CRPD.
Read MoreThe UN Committee Against Torture has issued its Concluding Observations on Australia following a review of Australia’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment at its 40th Session in Geneva in May 2008. The Human Rights Law Resource Centre prepared a major Report on Australia's Compliance with the Convention against Torture (April 2008) [PDF] to assist the Committee to constructively review and make recommendations regarding Australia.
Read MoreIn February 2008, the HRLRC, together with the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Rights Australia, prepared a Briefing Paper on Key Human Rights Issues in Australia for Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues and Chair of the Coordinating Committee on UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, in advance of her visit to Australia in April 2008.
Read MoreOn 25 July 2007, the Australian Government submitted a report to the United Nations on the performance of its human rights obligations under the two major international human rights treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A coalition of human rights organisations and community groups, including the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, have broadly condemned the report, criticising the Howard Government's failure to address how the rights contained in the treaties are reflected in the actual political, economic, social and cultural realities in Australia.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should urgently reconsider key aspects of its counter-terrorism laws to bring them into conformity with international human rights standards, a UN report on human rights and counter-terrorism in Australia which was tabled before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 26 March 2007 has found.
Read MoreIn February 2007, the HRLRC, together with the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Rights Australia, prepared a Briefing Paper on Key Human Rights Issues for Sir Nigel Rodley of the UN Human Rights Committee. Sir Nigel visited Australia from 22 - 28 February 2007.
Read MoreReport 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, hidden national housing crisis in Australia’.
Read More
