Inquiry into NSW racial vilification laws: Final Report tabled

The Parliamentary Committee that conducted an inquiry into NSW racial vilification laws tabled its Final Report on 3 December 2013. The Law and Justice Committee of the NSW Legislative Council was charged with a review of section 20D of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), which sets out the criminal offence for serious racial vilification. The Human Rights Law Centre made a submission to the inquiry earlier this year.

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Voter ID laws introduced in Queensland

On 21 November 2013 Queensland’s Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie, introduced the Electoral Reform Amendment Bill into Queensland’s parliament. Among other things, the bill contains provisions to give effect to Queensland’s new policy in which voters in Queensland elections must show identification in order to be able to vote.

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Human Rights Week Challenge 2013

Thank you to all our supporters who generously donated to our Human Rights Week Challenge 2013.

Your support, and the matching donations of King & Wood Mallesons, Allens, Oak Foundation and our board members, raised over $100,000 toward vital human rights litigation, education and advocacy.

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Victoria Law Foundation funded HRLC research highlights importance of storytelling in human rights advocacy

A new report by the HRLC's Rachel Ball considers the benefits and challenges of storytelling in human rights and social justice advocacy. The report, ‘When I Tell My Story, I’m in Charge: Ethical and Effective Storytelling in Advocacy’, sets out a range of approaches, techniques and examples to inform community legal centres in their advocacy efforts for systemic change.

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Scanlon Foundation report on social cohesion

The report on the findings of the sixth Scanlon Foundation Mapping Social Cohesion Survey, conducted in 2013, has recently been published. This report builds on the knowledge gained through the five earlier Scanlon Foundation surveys conducted in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion provides an overview in the five core domains of social cohesion: belonging, worth, social justice, participation, and acceptance and rejection.

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Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports on drone strikes

Amnesty International has recently released a report on US drone strikes in Pakistan. This report is not a comprehensive survey of US drone strikes in Pakistan; it is a qualitative assessment based on detailed field research into nine of the 45 reported strikes that occurred in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency between January 2012 and August 2013 and a survey of publicly available information on all reported drone strikes in Pakistan over that period.

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The neglected genocide: Report on abuses in Papua 1977–1978 launched

The Asian Human Rights Commission and Human Rights and Peace for Papua launched a report on the human rights abuses that took place in the central highlands of Papua, Indonesia between 1977–1978.The report discusses violations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and aims at truth-building. The report, which was concluded after three years of research by the AHRC, reveals the death of over 4,000 indigenous Papuans, including minors, as a result of operations conducted by the Indonesian military in the area.

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Expert Legal Opinion Gives Green Light for NSW Same-Sex Marriage

The Human Rights Law Centre and has made public the legal advice it obtained from Mr Bret Walker SC and Perry Herzfeld, on behalf of Australian Marriage Equality, that confirms that the NSW Same-Sex Marriage Bill would be constitutionally valid. The advice follows reports that the Bill will be introduced and debated in the NSW Upper House on October 31st.

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Australia should stand strong in support of the International Criminal Court at the UN Security Council

When 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.

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UK first country to launch comprehensive national action plan implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

On 4 September, the UK introduced a new national action plan entitled “Good Business: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”. The action plan is intended to help UK companies understand and manage human rights and to articulate the UK Government’s expectations about business behaviour, both in the UK and overseas.

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Ruling vindicates ‘Occupy Melbourne’ protesters but highlights lack of legal protections for free speech and protest rights

“Free speech is the cornerstone of democracy. Australian law must adequately protect essential democratic rights such as freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly. Whilst the decision is a mixed bag, it is an important vindication for the protestors who believed that the actions taken against them where arbitrary and unlawful," said Ms Brown.

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“Unspeakable atrocities” reported by the UN inquiry into human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The 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.

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Tasmanian Children’s Commissioner promotes smart alternatives to youth detention

Tasmania’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.

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Police shooting in Windsor highlights the need for independent investigation

The fatal shooting of a man last night in Windsor by a Victoria Police officer highlights the need for independent investigations into police-related deaths. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Anna Brown, said that the current practice of police investigating themselves undermined public confidence in police and breached international human rights guarantees.

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UN finds Australia guilty of 143 violations of international law for indefinite detention of refugees

The UN Human Rights Committee has found that Australia’s indefinite detention of 46 recognised refugees (42 Tamils from Sri Lanka, three Rohingya from Myanmar and a Kuwaiti) held in immigration detention for over two and a half years on ‘security grounds’ was inflicting serious psychological harm and amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to article 7 of the ICCPR. 

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Farewell to Acting Commissioner Karen Toohey

Karen was farewelled by the Victorian human rights community in a function held at the Commission’s offices in Carlton in July. Staff, government representatives and community leaders alike spoke of her capacity for innovation and strategic thinking to achieve practical outcomes and positive change. Her leadership, drive and appetite for tackling challenging and significant human rights issues will certainly be missed.

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National Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children

In July, the Commonwealth Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Julie Collins MP, and the Victorian Minister for Community Services, the Hon Mary Wooldridge MP, launched a new organisation, the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children. The Foundation has been set up to raise awareness and engage the community to prevent violence against women and their children. Natasha Stott Despoja AM has been appointed as Chair of the Foundation.

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Senate Committee recommends greater human rights scrutiny for decisions by Australia’s export credit agency

The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has recommended greater transparency, accountability and focus on human rights and environmental consequences when the statutory Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) makes decisions to finance local and international projects involving Australian companies.

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Australia bids for spot on the UN Human Rights Council

Australia recently announced its intention to seek election to the UN Human Rights Council in 2018. The Council is the UN’s peak human rights body. It is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe, for addressing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them. The Council comprises 47 UN Member States, which are elected by the UN General Assembly.

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Guide for human rights defenders on domestic implementation of UN human rights recommendations

The 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.

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Occupy Sydney protester’s claim under the implied freedom of communication rejected

Occupy Sydney protester Eamonn O’Flaherty claimed that he had a constitutionally implied right to occupy a city square with fellow protesters in Sydney as a way of demonstrating his political opinions and his support for the worldwide Occupy movement, and that the City of Sydney had violated his fundamental liberties by not allowing him and fellow protesters to remain in the square, thus unconstitutionally restricting his freedom of communication.

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Improved protections for Sex Discrimination Act welcomed by leading human rights organisation

Long overdue legal protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people should be incorporated into Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act immediately, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission today to the Senate’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee currently examining the Government’s proposed amendments.

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Foreign Minister should raise human rights and press freedom in West Papua during Indonesia visit

With the Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, scheduled to visit Indonesia tomorrow, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for a forthright discussion about human rights abuses in the Indonesian province of Papua.

HRLC spokesperson, Tom Clarke, said Australia is well positioned to play a meaningful and constructive role in helping to address the continuing human rights crisis in Papua.

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Australia supports UN Human Rights Council’s call for Sri Lankan war crimes to be investigated

In late March 2013 the UN Human Rights Council passed a US-backed resolution calling on Sri Lanka to honour the commitments it has previously made to investigate widespread allegations of war crimes during the last months of the civil war in May 2009. The resolution also raised formal concerns about continuing enforced disappearances, human rights abuses and other threats to the rule of law in Sri Lanka including the recent impeachment of the Chief Justice.

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Supreme Court decision highlights failure of police complaints system

A decision by the Victorian Supreme Court, Bare v Small, has failed to uphold the right to the independent investigation of complaints of serious mistreatment at the hands of Victoria Police. The case was brought by Youthlaw and pro bono counsel on behalf of a young African man, Nassir Bare, who alleged serious assault, including being capsicum sprayed while handcuffed, and being racially slurred by police in a February 2009 incident when he was 17 years old.

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Victoria Police to commence public review following racial discrimination court settlement

Victoria Police will commence a public inquiry aimed at stamping out racial profiling in police practices as a condition of an agreed out of court settlement in Haile-Michael and Others v Commissioner of Police and Others [Court no. VID 969 of 2010] – a racial discrimination claim brought by Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre and a pro bono legal team on behalf of six young African-Australian men.

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Australia is ready for new and improved discrimination laws

After years of discussion and consultation, the Federal Government has all it needs to strengthen protections against unfair treatment and make anti-discrimination laws more effective, accessible and cost-efficient. Earlier today the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee released its report on the exposure draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012.

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UN Human Rights Committee recognises extraterritorial obligations regarding business activity

The 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.

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A good Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill could be great with a few with amendments

Despite needing some amendments, the Federal Government’s draft Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 has the potential to strengthen protections against unfair treatment and make anti-discrimination laws more effective, accessible and cost-efficient. This is the message the Human Rights Law Centre will deliver when it gives evidence today before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

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