Daniel Webb - Director of Legal Advocacy

 
Daniel_Webb.jpg

Daniel Webb is the Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Legal Advocacy. Since joining the HRLC in 2012, Daniel has founded and leads the Centre’s Asylum Seeker and Refugee Rights Unit and also heads the Centre’s advocacy at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Daniel currently leads an unprecedented coalition of  law firms and  barristers in High Court litigation preventing the deportation of over 460 people to indefinite detention on Nauru and Manus Island. He has also lead High Court challenges to the Australian Government’s offshore detention regime (Plaintiff M68) and its secretive, month-long detention of 157 people at sea beneath the deck of an Australian customs ship (CPCF).

In partnership with GetUp!, Daniel also coordinated the #LetThemStay and #BringThemHere campaigns and has travelled to Manus Island three times to investigate and expose conditions on the ground.

Prior to joining the HRLC Daniel was a Senior Lawyer with Victoria Legal Aid, specialising in mental health and disability advocacy, and spent 12 months as The People’s Lawyer in the Republic of Kiribati. His NGO experience includes stints with the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights in Phnom Penh and Transparency International in Port Moresby, PNG.

Daniel’s effectiveness in defending human rights led to him winning the inaugural Global Pluralism Award. Nominated by the United Nations OHCHR Regional Office in Suva, Daniel was selected by a jury of world leaders from over 200 shortlisted nominees from 43 countries.

In announcing the award, Canada’s former Prime Minister and Chair of the Selection Jury the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark said:

“By protecting asylum seekers from horrendous detention and changing the public conversation about refugees from deterrence to opportunity, Daniel Webb is paving a way for other global leaders.”

 
 

Opinion

Beyond the politicised white noise, refugees are being brutally mistreated
The Guardian October 7 2017

We've Deprived Them Of Their Liberty. It's Time To Show Them Some Humanity.
The Huffington Post July 20 2017

The US refugee deal grows shakier by the day. Turnbull must find a humane way forward
The Guardian Australia  January 27 2017

Instead of solving a problem that doesn't exist, Malcolm Turnbull must address the one that does The Sydney Morning Herald  November 8 2016

A modest pledge won't erase the stain of Manus and Nauru
The Age  September 22 2016

(Video) Nayser missed the boat ... and now he's being forced to miss his family                             The Age September 15 2016

Enough is enough: bring Manus Island detainees to Australia                                                           The Sydney Morning Herald  August 18 2016

Offshore detention was destined to fail and the collapse might be closer than you think              The Guardian Australia  August 9 2016                  

(Video) HRLC calls on government to #LetThemStay after High Court decision
Sky News  June 17 2016

Manus – what the PNG Supreme Court ruling means for Australia
The Drum  April 26 2016

Manus: What Australia needs to do now
The Diplomat  May 3 2016

(Audio) The plight of ‘Baby Asha’
ABC RN Breakfast  February 24 2016

Bali 9: Time to death penalty-proof our AFP
ABC's The Drum  April 29 2015

The flaw in Australia’s deterrence-based asylum policies: they just give people who lack options one less
The Guardian Australia  October 14 2014

Another look needed for crimes by children in wake of Blessington, Elliott case
The Sydney Morning Herald  November 24 2014

Australia must not send asylum seekers to places where they risk torture or death
Herald Sun  July 8 2014

Asylum seekers' safety is compromised by this secretive government
The Guardian Australia February 20 2014

Stop Inventing Facts About Asylum Seekers
New Matilda July 12 2013

Outsourcing our dirty work: the truth about Nauru
The Drum  June 12 2013