Rio Tinto failed to apply human rights principles before destruction of Juukan Gorge
The Human Rights Law Centre has made a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The destruction of Juukan Gorge by Rio Tinto has been devastating in particular for the Puutu, Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Traditional Land Owners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and has deprived the world of a uniquely valuable cultural heritage site.
The Human Rights Law Centre submits that there appear to have been serious failures by the company to apply the human rights standards to which it claims to be committed.
The destruction has rightly attracted international condemnation, and calls for a thorough examination of the company’s actions and the broader legal and political framework that allowed this to happen.
Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s full submission to the inquiry here.
Submission to 2025-26 Federal Budget consultation
The Human Rights Law Centre has put forward recommendations to the 2025-26 federal budget submissions across a range of issues, including campaigning for an Australian Human Rights Act, migration justice, prisoners’ rights, whistleblower protection and modern slavery.
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Submission to Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 review
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for stronger safeguards for the right to privacy and warned that these powers enable the AFP and ACIC to undertake significant invasions of privacy, encroach on the right to privacy, and threaten to have a chilling effect on the work of journalists and their sources.
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Submission to Inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities
In a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ inquiry into antisemitism on Australian university campuses, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for reforms that uphold Australia's commitment to international human rights standards, fostering a society that respects equality, freedom, and justice for all.
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Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Cammeraygal, Darug, Wadawurrung, Turrbal and Jagera people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
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