Lee Carnie is the latest lawyer to join the HRLC team. She commenced in May 2016 in the LGBTI Rights Unit.
Read MoreAn exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Lawyer to work in our Indigenous Rights Unit. We are seeking a highly motivated, dynamic and collaborative individual. This position is aimed at lawyers with at least 5 years relevant, post-admission legal practical experience.
Read MoreRights groups have applauded the Victorian Government for today's formal state apology to people convicted under unjust laws against homosexual acts. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy, Anna Brown welcomed Premier Daniel Andrews’ heartfelt speech and said the apology recognises the harm that these discriminatory laws have caused
Read MoreWestern Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services released a damning report on Friday showing that Western Australia’s policy of locking people up for unpaid fines disproportionately impacts vulnerable Aboriginal women.
The Human Rights Law Centre’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said that the Inspector’s report is another reminder that Western Australia’s policy of locking people up for unpaid fines is unfair and out of date.
Read MoreHuman rights lawyers have raised concerns that a parliamentary committee has sought to silence organisations that advocate to protect the environment.
Read MoreBusiness can have a significant impact on the human rights of people in countries where they operate, particularly where those countries have weak regulatory and governance systems. Where Australian businesses are responsible for human rights abuses, it is vital that they are held accountable and that victims are able to access a remedy.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, welcomed the appointment, saying he looked forward to Ms Hilton’s leadership protecting and promoting human rights in Victoria.
Read MoreA joint parliamentary committee has today urged the Australian Government to do more to abolish the death penalty worldwide including prohibiting the Australian Federal Police from sharing information about drug crimes that could lead to imposition of the death penalty.
Read MoreToday the Commonwealth Attorney-General George Brandis announced the appointment of Mr Edward Santow as Human Rights Commissioner, the Hon Dr Kay Patterson as Age Discrimination Commissioner and Mr Alastair McEwin as Disability Discrimination Commissioner.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) today filed submissions in their case appealing a decision of the NT Court of Appeal, Mole v Prior, concerning an Aboriginal man who was taken into protective custody.
Read MoreEach year we join with the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and King & Wood Mallesons to produce a special Children's Rights Edition of our monthly bulletin, Rights Agenda.
Read MoreOn the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Western Australian Government is being urged to adopt justice targets to address the State’s appalling rates of Aboriginal peoples’ over-imprisonment.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) today sought permission from the High Court to appeal a Northern Territory decision concerning police powers of ‘protective custody’.
Read MoreA Human Rights Act would be a force for good in protecting the rights of all Queenslanders and would deliver significant benefits, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Queensland Parliament’s Human Rights Inquiry.
Read MoreAs the coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody concludes, her family has called for a meeting with Premier Barnett to ensure he is taking action to address Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Read MoreAs governments can bestow rights, equally they can take them away. We must not be complacent, writes the HRLC's Emily Howie.
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 MoreThe New South Wales government’s anti-protest laws will unreasonably restrict and disproportionately punish people for standing together and speaking out on issues that they care about, said the Human Rights Law Centre.
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 MoreThe HRLC has welcomed the announcement that the Australian Government will undertake a national consultation on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Read MoreWith the coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody recommencing on Monday, family members and human rights lawyers are urging the Western Australian Government to urgently scrap the practice of locking people up for unpaid fines.
Read MoreWhistleblowers who reveal human rights abuses face the risk of prosecution and jail and require much greater legal protection, said the Human Rights Law Centre in a submission to the review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth). The Act is currently being reviewed by former Integrity Commissioner Philip Moss for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Read MoreThe global gay and lesbian community has been asked to help a gay refugee couple currently living in fear after the Australian Government’s punitive refugee policies have left them languishing on a tiny island where homosexuality is a crime.
Read MoreSpanish giant Ferrovial has been warned in a new investor alert that it will be exposed to serious legal, financial and reputation risks associated with the Australian offshore detention centres, if its takeover bid for Broadspectrum is successful.
Read MoreSpanish giant Ferrovial has been warned in a new investor alert that it will be exposed to serious legal, financial and reputation risks associated with the Australian offshore detention centres, if its takeover bid for Broadspectrum is successful.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should remove unjustified limits on basic rights and freedoms in Australia, said the Human Rights Law Centre today. HRLC Director of Advocacy and Research, Emily Howie, welcomed the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report, Traditional Rights and Freedoms – Encroachments on Commonwealth Laws, that adds to the growing evidence of Australian laws that infringe on rights. Read More
The Human Rights Law Centre is proud to have partnered with GetUp! and the Australian Churches for Refugees Taskforce to create and coordinate the #LetThemStay campaign for the 267 people linked to our High Court case.
Read MoreAustralia’s political parties must stop eroding many of the vital foundations of Australia’s democracy, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a new report. Civil society leaders joined the launch at Australian Parliament House to highlight the critical role that civil society plays in a healthy and robust democracy.
Read MoreLast night was the first time in three days that the HRLC legal team had been allowed to speak with our client. HRLC’s Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, said that it was unusual and unreasonable that access be so restricted.
Read MoreFollowing the Human Rights Law Centre's public statement earlier this afternoon that its legal team had been prevented from speaking with the clients for the last three days, the government agreed to allow Baby Asha’s mother to speak to her lawyer, Daniel Webb, by phone early this evening.
Read MoreThe Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, has announced that ‘Baby Asha’ will be moved from a Brisbane hospital – where medical staff had been refusing to discharge her – and into community detention.
Read MoreThe Australian Government appears to be rapidly moving to clear the way for fast-track deportations without notice of many of the 267 vulnerable people the Human Rights Law Centre represented in the recent High Court challenge to Australia’s role in offshore detention.
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 MoreOn Monday night our Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, delivered a speech at the #LetThemStay community event in Melbourne...
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 MoreLaura Wilson is HRLC's new addition, commencing in February 2016 as a Lawyer in the Indigenous Rights Unit.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, has welcomed news that the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, has written to the Prime Minister explaining that he wants the 267 men, women and children facing deportation following this week's High Court decision, to call Victoria home.
Read MoreThe child at the centre of rape allegations is not a client of the Human Rights Law Centre and is not one of the 267 people linked to last week’s High Court challenge. Neither the HRLC or GetUp was involved in the decision to take the story to the media.
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 MoreThe High Court has ruled that the Australian Government’s role in funding and participating in offshore detention on Nauru does not breach Australian law, but it did not give a blanket authority for the Government’s actions.
Read MoreThe High Court will hand down a decision tomorrow morning in a test case challenging the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s role in offshore detention on Nauru. The HRLC's Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, said his client, her husband and their one-year old baby are terrified of being sent back to Nauru.
Read MoreAustralia is lagging behind in the global movement to prevent and address corporate human rights abuses and a group of leading NGOs is urging the Government to do something about it.
Read MoreA new research project is aiming to better understand and tackle the harm caused by so-called gay conversion therapy and the ex-gay movement in Australia.
Read MoreThe announcement by the Queensland Attorney-General that the Queensland Law Reform Commission will examine how historical convictions for consensual homosexual conduct can be removed from a person’s criminal record has been welcomed by community and legal groups.
Read MoreThank you!
The official count is complete and we're thrilled to report that thanks to your generous support, we reached our target of raising $200,000 during our Human Rights Week Challenge.
Read MoreWe're very pleased to share our Annual Report for the 2014/15 financial year.
Read MoreStanding up for human rights is serious business, but here at the Human Right Law Centre we also enjoy a laugh and hope you do too.
Read MoreToday, the Human Rights Law Centre has joined with other leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, community and human rights organisations to launch a ground-breaking blueprint for change to focus on building communities instead of prisons, and developing smarter criminal justice solutions.
Read MoreIf we do not take a drastically different approach, the trajectory of our Corrections system seems as negative and inevitable as the lives of those disadvantaged and victimised individuals it houses, writes the Centre for Innovative Justice's Rob Hulls.
Read MoreThe Victorian Parliament has passed a new law to protect the privacy, safety and dignity of women accessing reproductive health services.
Read MoreThe coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody has heard that Ms Dhu was in a violent relationship with her partner, Dion Ruffin, at the time of her arrest. Mr Ruffin was taken into custody together with Ms Dhu and was known to police as someone with a violent criminal history.
Read MoreA new and exciting opportunity has arisen for a lawyer to work as part of our Indigenous Rights Unit. This position will work alongside the Unit’s Director and Senior Lawyer and will play a vital role in contributing to all aspects of the Unit’s work. This position will be based in Melbourne.
Read MoreThe coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody begins in Perth tomorrow morning.
Read MoreThe Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, yesterday met with Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, at the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur and expressed concern over the detention conditions in Australia’s offshore processing centres and encouraged the Prime Minister to reconsider Operation Sovereign Borders.
Read MoreAustralia must ensure that its opposition to the death penalty is consistently reflected across all its laws, policies and practices, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade’s Human Rights Sub-Committee. The Sub-Committee is currently inquiring into Australia’s advocacy for abolition of the death penalty.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s youth justice system needs a thorough overhaul in light of fresh allegations of mistreatment emerging after the resignation of the Northern Territory’s Corrections Commissioner, Mr Ken Middlebrook.
Read MoreRainbow families and community advocates are calling on Members of Parliament to support the Adoption Amendment (Adoption by Same-Sex Couples) Bill 2015 to be debated in the Victorian Parliament tomorrow.
Read MoreThe High Court has today found the Northern Territory’s ‘paperless arrest’ laws valid, but imposed significant limitations on their operation.
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 MoreAustralia’s human rights performance will face intense scrutiny next week as the Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major four yearly human rights review. At the "Universal Periodic Review" (UPR) other countries will have the opportunity to question Australia about its human rights record and make a series of recommendations for improvement.
Read MoreThe Victorian Parliament should pass a new bill to protect the privacy, safety and dignity of women accessing reproductive health services, the Human Rights Law Centre told the Victorian Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee yesterday.
Read MoreAccording to the most recent statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15–64 years are around half as likely to be employed as non-Indigenous people.
Read MoreThe United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued an urgent call to the governments of Australia and Nauru to find a decent solution for 'Abyan' - a refugee being held on Nauru who is 15 weeks pregnant after reportedly being raped on Nauru in July. The UN has spoken directly with Abyan.
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 MoreJoin us for a panel discussion in Melbourne about Australia's foreign policy ambitions and failures with Tim Costello, Andrew Hudson and Emily Howie.
Read MoreAustralia’s treatment of prisoners falls short of new international standards adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last week.
Read MoreIn the lead up to Australia’s review by the UN Human Rights Council, the HRLC and other NGOs along with the Australian Human Rights Commission visited Geneva to brief UN member states on the human rights situation in Australia and key issues that should be considered as part of the review.
Read MoreIn 2014 the HRLC’s Ben Schokman was awarded a nine-month Myer Innovation Fellowship to research and design new and innovative approaches to address the over-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. The fellowship involved examining “justice reinvestment” initiatives operating overseas and considering their potential application in the Australian context.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is thrilled that our very own Director of Advocacy and Litigation, Anna Brown, has been nominated as one of Victoria's finalists for the 2016 Australian of the Year Award for her work tackling important human rights issues.
Read MoreThe full bench of the High Court will sit on Wednesday and Thursday to hear a challenge to the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s role in offshore detention.
Read MoreThe full bench of the High Court will this week hear a challenge to the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s role in offshore detention on Nauru. The hearing will proceed despite an eleventh hour announcement that the facility on Nauru is set to become an ‘open centre’.
Read MoreThe announcement by Victorian Minister for Equality Martin Foley that the Government will this week introduce laws to remove discrimination faced by same-sex couples in the area of adoption has been welcomed by community and legal groups.
Read MoreDuring the month of October our hilarious friends at The Katering Show are generously donating all proceeds from the sale of their aprons to the HRLC!
Read MoreAustralia has been accused of seeking to weaken criticism of Cambodia’s appalling human rights record during negotiations on an important resolution at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Read MoreIn 1988 Alan Raabe became one of the 548 victims of Queensland's war on homosexuality - he shares his story with the HRLC.
Read MorePeople should be free to meet with United Nations investigators without fear of being sent to prison, writes the HRLC's Daniel Webb.
Read MoreIndividuals who have unfair convictions from unjust laws that criminalised homosexuality should be able to have their names cleared – and a major research report from legal and community organisations has developed a blueprint for reform in Queensland.
Read MoreThe UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau, announced overnight he was postponing his imminent official visit to Australia due to the lack of cooperation from the Australian Government including on the risk of reprisals against those who spoke to him.
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 MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has sent an urgent request to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to investigate the mistreatment of young people (under 18 years) in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, the Northern Territory’s main youth justice facility.
Read MoreA law proposed in the Queensland parliament this afternoon will restore the ability of same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships and hold state sanctioned ceremonies.
Read MoreVictoria’s Charter of Human Rights would be made more effective, practical and accessible through a range of recommendations made in a report following a review of the Charter’s first eight years of operation.
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 MoreThe latest Australian prison statistics released yesterday show the crisis of Indigenous imprisonment in Australia is getting worse.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is proud to support the push for a Human Rights Act in Queensland.
Read MoreAdvice from one of Australia's top constitutional barristers has confirmed that a referendum on marriage equality is completely unnecessary because the High Court has already established that parliament has the power to introduce the required changes.
Read MoreEqual opportunity laws should proactively tackle discrimination and promote equality, according to a large coalition of community organisations and legal experts.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the news that the Victorian Government will back the creation of safe access zones to ensure women can safely and privately access health services without being harassed or intimidated.
Read MoreA group of leading community and legal organisations has today urged the Victorian Government to change Victoria’s Human Rights Charter to ensure it is more accessible, more effective and simpler to use.
Read MoreAustralia’s regional processing centre in Nauru is not a safe or appropriate environment for asylum seekers, according to a damning Senate Committee report released today.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today expressed grave concerns over statements by the newly formed Australian Border Force that they would be stopping individuals in Melbourne’s CBD.
Read MoreLecturer in the Faculty of Law at Monash University, Sangeetha Pillai, examines the problems with the three significant expansions to the current grounds for citizenship loss contained in new laws proposed by the Government.
Read MoreA Melbourne abortion clinic is looking to Spring Street to create safe access zones after the Supreme Court of Victoria this morning found that whilst the Melbourne City Council had made mistakes in the way it dealt with the clinic, it would not be compelled to take action to prevent women being harassed and intimidated as they entered the clinic.
Read MoreThe full bench of the High Court will hear an important human rights case next week in Canberra about the Northern Territory's excessive police powers.
Read MoreThe High Court will sit in Canberra on 7-8 October to consider the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s role in offshore detention on Nauru, in a case brought by a group of people seeking asylum.
Read MoreStripping environmental groups of the right to take legal action under Federal environmental laws will undermine core democratic freedoms, a leading human rights organisation has warned.
Read MoreA proposed law designed to ensure women can safely and privately access abortion services in Victoria has been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreA Court of Appeal decision today highlights the need for reform to the system of investigating police complaints in Victoria.
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 MoreThe Citizenship Bill currently before the Australian Parliament is badly flawed and should not be passed, the Human Rights Law Centre said in its submission to the Parliamentary Committee investigating the Bill. Read More
More than 850 asylum seekers and 87 refugees are detained indefinitely in poor conditions on Manus Island two years after Australia announced it would process and resettle “boat people” in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Law Centre said today.
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 MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) have written to the Australian National Contact Point (ANCP) expressing disappointment at the ANCP’s decision not to investigate our complaint concerning G4S Australia Pty Ltd relation to conditions and abuse of asylum seekers detained at the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
Read MoreThank you to all the wonderful supporters who donated to our End of Financial Year Appeal. We raised just over $100,000 from 164 donors. We're facing unprecedented human rights challenges in Australia and this support is critical to our impact. Thank you.
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 MoreLegislation being rushed through Parliament contradicted the Federal Government’s claims that its actions detaining asylum seekers offshore are legal, the Human Rights Law Centre said today. The changes are being brought in response to a High Court case the HRLC commenced in May.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has urged changes to make Victoria’s Human Rights Charter more accessible, more effective and simpler to enforce in its submission to the eight year review of the Charter.
Read MoreA West Australian Aboriginal family have asked the High Court for permission to appeal against a decision that they pay legal costs to the Western Australian Government, following an unsuccessful stolen generations test case.
Read MoreIntense secrecy and speculation has shrouded the allegations that the Australian Government paid the crew of an asylum seeker boat headed for New Zealand to return to Indonesia. Here’s our take on what’s happened and what it means for our asylum seeker policy.
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 Northern Territory’s youth justice practices risk breaching international human rights law by failing to prioritise the best interests of young people.
Read MoreA legal bid to ensure safe access for patients and staff at an East Melbourne fertility clinic will be heard before the Supreme Court today.
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.
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Sally Goldner is Executive Director of Transgender Victoria, Treasurer of Bisexual Alliance Victoria and the presenter of “Out of the Pan”, a weekly radio show on 3CR covering pansexual issues. Editor-at-large of Right Now, Andre Dao, recently had a quick chat with her about her activism.
Read MoreHuman rights lawyers have raised concerns that a parliamentary inquiry into charity tax law could be used to lay the groundwork for attempts to stifle important voices in the environmental movement.
Read MoreProperly paid parental leave isn't a 'rort' - it's a human right, writes the HRLC's Rachel Ball.
Read MoreA group of leading Australian and international human rights organisations are calling for an overhaul to the way the Australian government campaigns to end the death penalty, today launching a new strategy document: ‘Australian Government and the Death Penalty: A Way Forward’.
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An independent inquiry is needed into the violent bashing of an Aboriginal man in custody in the Australian Capital Territory. Less than 3 hours after being remanded, Steven Freeman was the victim of a severe assault and was taken to Canberra Hospital where he was placed in an induced coma for almost a week.
Read MoreA case has today been commenced in the High Court of Australia on behalf of a group of 10 asylum seekers and their families challenging the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s offshore detention arrangements.
Read MoreI want to tell you about one client who was denied the chance to be part of our High Court case against off-shore processing.
Read MoreThe Government’s budget proposal to reduce parental leave payments is a retrograde step that will further entrench women’s inequality.
Read MoreThe announcement from Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo that Indonesia will lift its decades-long ban on journalists travelling to its troubled Papuan provinces is a welcome step in the right direction.
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The Victorian Attorney-General recently announced the 8-year review of the Victorian Charter. The review is a significant opportunity to strengthen the legal protection and practical realisation of human rights in Victoria. This page provides information and resources about the review, making a submission, and the HRLC's key recommendations for reform.
Read MoreThe rapidly increasing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples caught up in the criminal justice system is one of the most significant human rights issues in Australia. Today, the Human Rights Law Centre has joined with other leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, community and human rights organisations to launch a ground-breaking blueprint for reversing the tide by focusing on building communities instead of prisons, and developing smarter criminal justice solutions.
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.
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Australians don’t talk about self-harm, they don’t know much about self-harm, and they often don't realise it is the leading cause of death amongst 15-24 year olds in this country. The 2014 Children’s Rights Report seeks to change this by recommending a National Research Agenda on self-harm. This will help us find out more information to better understand the problem and develop solutions, which is a push in the right direction for Australia.
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The Australian Government recently passed legislation to amend the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and the Maritime Powers Act 2013 (Cth) making it even more difficult for asylum seeker children and children born to asylum seeker parents to be processed and settled in Australia.
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Australia 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 More‘How did it come to this?’ asks the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Professor Gillian Triggs about Australia rejecting fundamental human rights along with the international monitoring processes designed to give them effect.
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At 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.
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John Tobin is a Professor in the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. In 2011 he was awarded a national citation for outstanding contribution to student learning in the area of human rights, and is currently working with Professor Philip Alston from NYU on a comprehensive commentary on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Editor at large of Right Now, Andre Dao, recently caught up for a chat.
Read MoreVictoria is on the cusp of a reform that would see the State’s last law to directly discriminate against same-sex couples consigned to the dustbin of history, writes the HRLC's Anna Brown.
Read MoreA recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Victoria has seen one of the largest jumps in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rates in the country.
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 MoreToday the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) will commence a High Court challenge against the ‘paperless arrest’ regime in the Northern Territory that gives police new detention powers.
Read MoreMany children will benefit from removing discrimination in adoption laws, the independent review of Victoria’s adoption laws has been told in submissions lodged by community groups this week.
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.
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Samah Hadid is an international human rights and social justice campaigner, as well as an advocacy specialist. Most recently she was the Australia Director for The Global Poverty Project. She has previously completed a fellowship with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and selected as the Australian Youth Representative to the UN in 2010. Editor at large of Right Now, Andre Dao, recently caught up for a chat.
Read MoreProposed legislation being debated today in the Western Australian Parliament risks criminalising peaceful protest in breach of international human rights guarantees.
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The 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 Queensland government’s commitment to abolish voter ID requirements introduced by the previous government has been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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.
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Australia’s counter-terrorism and migration laws unnecessarily and disproportionately interfere with fundamental rights and freedoms and ought to be repealed, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) inquiry into “Traditional Rights and Freedoms”.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre welcomed today’s announcement by the Victorian Government that Michael Brett Young will lead the 8 year review of Victoria’s Human Rights Charter. Read More
The Government of Nauru should take urgent steps to respect and protect journalists, strengthen judicial independence and enact specific legislation protecting human rights defenders, the International Service for Human Rights and the Human Rights Law Centre said in a joint briefing paper on Nauru published today.
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
Graeme Innes AM is a lawyer, mediator and company director. He was a Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission for nearly ten years, responsible for issues relating to disability, race and human rights. Editor at large of Right Now and HRLC volunteer, Andre Dao, recently had a quick chat with him about what he’s been up to.
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Sector leaders have called for a bipartisan commitment to permanently end the policy of mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seeker children and families following the release of the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry report. Our joint media release with Child Rights International, UNICEF Australia, Save the Children Australia, Plan International Australia and others...
Read MoreProposed new data retention laws create significant risks that private information of Australians will be unlawfully accessed and misused, said the Human Rights Law Centre in a submission to the Senate inquiry into the draft legislation.
Read MoreIf Australia wants to pursue its own military drone program, far greater levels of transparency and rigorous safeguards are absolutely essential, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell the Senate's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee during its inquiry into Australia's potential purchase of its own drones.
Read MoreAlmost six months since Julieka Dhu’s tragic death in police custody, her family still have no answers as to how she died.
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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 MoreParliament should pass a proposed law to preserve and enhance the proper oversight of counter-terrorism and national laws that have serious repercussions for human rights.
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Read our in-depth overview of the High Court case and decision regarding the detention of 157 asylum seekers on an Australian custom vessel at sea.
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The High Court will tomorrow hand down its decision on a legal challenge to the Australian Government’s high seas detention of 157 Tamil asylum seekers on board a customs vessel for nearly a month.
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The 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.
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Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month show a 10 percent jump in the number of people in Australian prisons, bringing the prison population to a 10 year high.
Read MoreOne of our passionate supporters, Sam Drummond, is about to swim an open water marathon to raise money for our work protecting and promoting human rights!
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Rights groups have welcomed the ACT Government’s announcement that it will legislate to erase the criminal records of homosexual men who were convicted for having consensual sex in the past when it was illegal.
Read MoreToday’s announcement that the Australian Government will slash the Australian Human Rights Commission’s funding by around 30% over the next three years has been denounced by the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee today released its report into the violence inside Australia’s detention centre on Manus Island that led to the death of 23-year-old Iranian man Reza Barati and the serious injury of 70 others in February this year. Here's the HRLC's response...
Read MoreWe’re very pleased to share our Annual Report 2013/14!
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is proud to have amongst our many supporters a number of eminent human rights leaders. To support our Human Rights Week Appeal, the Hon Malcolm Fraser AC, Prime Minister of Australia from 1975-1983, has kindly offered to host an afternoon tea for one lucky donor.
Read MoreThe Australian government should cease forced returns of Sri Lankan asylum seekers until they are provided fair, thorough, and transparent processing of their protection claims, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Law Centre, and Human Rights Watch said today. On November 29, 2014, Australian authorities turned over to Sri Lankan authorities a boat carrying 37 asylum seekers.
Read MoreThis week you have an amazing opportunity to double your human rights impact by donating to the Human Rights Law Centre.
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 MoreA push to ensure that people with disabilities fully enjoy the right to vote has been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Australia 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 MoreProposed changes to migration laws would widen the Immigration Minister’s power, marginalise international law and wind back the ability of Australian courts to scrutinise the Government’s treatment of asylum seekers, leading human rights organisations will tell the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee today.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is looking to recruit a part-time Fundraising Administrator in Melbourne to coordinate and enhance its fundraising activities, so if you’re passionate about human rights and have experience in fundraising, we'd love to hear from you!
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 MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s outstanding work defending the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers has been recognised with an award from the Migration Institute of Australia and the ANU College of Law.
Read MoreAnti-protest laws proposed by the Tasmanian Government - even following amendments – will breach international human rights law, the Human Rights Law Centre has today warned.
Read MoreRights groups today welcomed the passage of the Criminal Records Amendment (Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill 2014 through the NSW Parliament. Commenting on the significance of the announcement, NSW GLRL Convenor, Justin Koonin said that members of his community had been waiting a very long time for justice.
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Jared 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 MoreWelcome to the 100th edition of Rights Agenda – the monthly bulletin of the Human Rights Law Centre!
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As Executive Director of the freshly established HRLC in May 2006, Phil Lynch started the HRLC’s monthly bulletin as six page word document that he circulated via email amongst the centre’s small (but impressive) supporter base. Today, he tells us he still gets excited when it appears in his inbox.
Read MoreLast week the High Court heard a challenge to the lawfulness of the Australian Government’s detention of 157 Sri Lankan asylum seekers for almost a month on board a customs vessel.
Read MoreThe HRLC’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation Anna Brown has been recognised for her work to advance the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
Read MoreSeventy seven organisations have united to warn that Australia’s standards are sliding when it comes to the prevention of torture and cruel treatment.
Read MoreA broad coalition of Australia’s leading academics, media, human rights, legal and migrant organisations today called on the Australian Government to delay the passage of its proposed anti-terror laws to allow more comprehensive scrutiny of the legislation.
Read MoreTonight the Victorian Parliament became the first Australian jurisdiction to formally acknowledge that sex between consenting men should never have been a crime.
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 most significant changes to Australia’s counter-terrorism laws in over a decade proposed under the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 are extraordinary in nature and encroach on fundamental human rights, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security on its review of the Bill.
Read MoreThe HRLC is one of twelve organisations to sign a joint statement calling on the Northern Territory Government to rethink their proposal to lock up young people in a run-down jail, deemed unfit for adults. The Northern Territory is one of the only jurisdictions in Australia to have increasing youth detention rates. Almost all of the young people in detention in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal, and many come from disadvantaged backgrounds including being exposed to drug and alcohol misuse, violence, and neglect.
Read MoreIn its rush to expel – via a sub-standard screening process – Sri Lankans who arrive in Australia by boat, Australia places those people at risk of torture, rape and ill treatment in Sri Lankan custody.
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 MoreThere is plenty of devil in the detail of the Immigration Minister’s latest reforms, introduced into Federal Parliament today.
Read MoreThe United Nations Human Rights Council is set to vote on an historic resolution tackling violence and discrimination against sexual minorities. The HRLC's Directory of Advocacy, Anna Brown, is present in Geneva and delivered a statement to the Council calling on the international community to support a resolution condemning violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Read MoreA formal OECD complaint has been lodged against multinational security contractor G4S for failing to meet international standards and committing serious human rights violations in relation to conditions and abuse of asylum seekers detained at the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea is due tomorrow to consider whether an important PNG National Court inquiry examining the lawfulness of the Manus Island detention centre should be allowed to resume.
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 MoreThe NSW Government will join Victoria in erasing the criminal records of men who were convicted for having consensual sex in the past when homosexuality was illegal.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre and the Victorian Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby today welcomed the Victorian Government's announcement that it will introduce legislation to erase the criminal records of people convicted of unjust crimes before 1981 when homosexuality was illegal.
Read MoreThe Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures last week showing that Australia now imprisons 18 per cent more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women than it did 12 months ago.
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.
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Each year, King & Wood Mallesons and the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre, work with the Human Rights Law Centre to publish a special edition of our Monthly Bulletin, Rights Agenda, that focuses exclusively on human rights and legal issues affecting children and young people.
Read MoreProposed amendments to the ASIO Act introduced into Federal Parliament today would ensure that refugees indefinitely detained on the basis of ASIO security assessments would have the same right to appeal those assessments as everyone else.
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The High Court will sit in Canberra on the 14 and 15 of October to consider the legality of the Australian Government’s decision to detain 157 Tamil asylum seekers on board a customs vessel on the High Seas for nearly a month.
Read MoreProposed amendments to the Migration Act would significantly increase the risk of people being returned to persecution, the HRLC has said in a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
Read MoreThe election of a new Indonesian President presents the Australian Government with an opportunity to review its relationship with the Indonesian military.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the announcement that the Australian Government has “taken off the table” proposals drafted by the Commonwealth Attorney General, George Brandis, to weaken Australia’s racial discrimination laws.
Read MoreLawyers for the 157 Tamil asylum seekers today revealed that Australian Government officers told the group they would be forced to go to India in three orange lifeboats dropped into the ocean somewhere off the coast of India.
Read MoreLawyers assisting 157 asylum seekers secretly sent overnight to Nauru today condemned the Government’s actions.
Read MoreAustralia’s current laws on marriage leave same-sex couples in a maze of legal uncertainty when it comes to recognition of foreign marriages, and are inconsistent with international law.
Read MoreNew figures revealed today show that a large majority of submissions to the Australian Government oppose controversial proposed changes to Australia’s racial vilification laws.
Read MoreGovernments should ensure that people with disabilities fully enjoy the right to vote by ensuring that all people who express a wish to vote are provided necessary supports and assistance.
Read MoreImmigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed reports that the Australian customs vessel carrying 157 Tamil asylum seekers is on its way to Australian territory.
Read MoreOn the eve of the World AIDS Conference 2014, Victorian Health Minister David Davis announced plans to amend the Crimes Act to remove discrimination against people living with HIV. The announcement was cautiously welcomed by NGOs, but clarification was sought on key details.
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 UN Human Rights Council has adopted two new resolutions on business and human rights.
Read MoreThe HRLC has taken a range of urgent steps to prevent Sri Lankan asylum seekers being handed over to the very regime they claim to be fleeing.
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 MoreIt’s that time of year again when we gather an eclectic collection of goods, services and experiences for our Fundraising Auctions to be held at the Annual Human Rights Dinners that we host with Justice Connect – this year in Melbourne on 13 June and in Sydney on 20 June.
Read MoreNew laws to oversee the Northern Territory's prison system will not address the endemic over-imprisonment of Aboriginal people and fail to respect basic rights, warns the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreAmnesty International and the Human Rights Law Centre have appeared at the Senate, Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee Inquiry into the events that occurred on Manus Island in February of this year that left one asylum seeker dead.
Read MoreIn a joint open letter sent to Attorney-General George Brandis today, over 120 Aboriginal, ethnic, community, union, legal, religious and human rights organisations urged the Federal Government to abandon its controversial proposal to roll back racial vilification protections.
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The HRLC is delighted to announce the appointment of Ruth Barson as a Senior Lawyer. Ruth has joined us from the Centre for Innovative Justice, and prior to that has worked at Victoria Legal Aid as well as various Aboriginal legal services in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Read MoreAustralia’s new approach to development assistance focuses on private sector development and pays insufficient attention to the human rights goals and obligations that should be central to our aid program.
Read MoreIt has been revealed during a Senate Estimates hearing that the Australian Government has made payments towards the Papua New Guinean Government’s legal costs for proceedings relating to the asylum seeker detention centre on Manus Island.
Read MoreThe key recommendation of a Government-commissioned investigation into the recent violence inside the Manus Island detention centre is to process and resettle asylum seekers quickly and fairly.
Read MoreOver the past 18 months, the Human Rights Law Centre, together with our partners the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, has been working to bring key national agencies together to address the national crisis that is the over imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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The Queensland government has passed the first voter ID laws in Australia limiting the right of Queenslanders to vote, particularly members of already marginalised and disadvantaged groups.
Read MoreThe recent violence inside the Manus Island detention centre was a foreseeable and preventable result of the circumstances in which asylum seekers have been transferred and detained, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee in a written submission.
Read MoreIt is essential that Australia retain robust oversight of the extraordinary powers granted to police and ASIO under Australia’s counter-terrorism laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should introduce laws that would minimise the risk of Australian policing or military assistance supporting human rights violators.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should not proceed with proposed changes to racial vilification laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has recommended in its submission to the public consultation process on proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should not introduce reforms which prioritise administrative convenience over protection from persecution, the HRLC has said in a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
Read MoreA significant judgment today restored some balance to equal opportunity laws but has sparked calls for reform to limit discrimination by religious groups.
Read MoreNoble defences of unlimited free speech make for good debate, but a poor society. The hardest cases help us find the boundaries of acceptable speech, write Rachel Ball and Anna Brown.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has released an Information Paper to help individuals and organisations give feedback to the Federal Government on the proposed changes to racial vilification laws. The paper provides an overview of the current law and the proposed changes and also summarises the HRLC’s views on the changes.
Read MoreThe High Court has delivered a landmark judgment that recognises sex other than male or female, representing a victory for growing numbers of gender diverse people across Australia.
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 MoreAmnesty International, assisted by the Human Rights Law Centre, was granted leave to participate in the PNG National Court’s inquiry examining whether PNG human rights laws are being breached by the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island.
Read MoreThe United Nations Human Rights Council should pass resolution 25/1 to establish an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed in the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war, according to a statement jointly delivered to the UN in Geneva today by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThis page contains materials and background information on Australia’s racial vilification laws, as well as link to further materials.
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 MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre strongly criticised proposed new racial vilification legislation released earlier today by Attorney-General George Brandis.
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 MoreAmnesty International, assisted by the Human Rights Law Centre, has been granted leave to participate in a powerful PNG National Court inquiry examining whether PNG human rights laws are being breached by the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island.
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 MoreThe Federal Government’s mooted changes to racial vilification protections, reported today in The Australian, have caused serious concern among community organisations that work with people affected by racist hate speech.
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