NGO Report to CERD: Call for Endorsements by 30 June

The Endorsement Draft of the NGO Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is now available.

The report has been prepared over the last 5 months in consultation with a broad range of community organisations and NGOs in Australia and we hope that it will also be supported by even wider range of organisations and individuals. The more support the better. The report will be presented to the UN in August 2010, when Australia formally appears for review.

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Right to Health: UN Special Rapporteur Releases Report on Australia - Focus on Indigenous Health and Detainee Health

On 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.

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Refugee Rights: Processing Suspension Breaches International and Domestic Human Rights Law

The Human Rights Law Resource Centre has published a Joint Memorandum of Advice from three leading barristers (Debbie Mortimer SC, Chris Horan and Kathleen Foley) in relation to the lawfulness of the suspension of the processing of asylum claims made by Sri Lankan and Afghan nationals. The detailed opinion concludes that the Australian Government's policy is unlawful under international and Australian law.  The policy – and persons acting under the policy – are susceptible to challenge in the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia.  A complaint could also be lodged with the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

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Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific: Major Report on Australia's Role in the Region

On 3 May 2010, the Australian Parliament’s Human Rights Sub-Committee published a much anticipated report on Australia’s role in promoting and protecting human rights in the Asia-Pacific region, entitled Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities. The Committee identified that the ‘Asia-Pacific is a diverse and complex region with a mosaic of human rights challenges’ and found that there is a ‘clear need to enhance mechanisms to protect human rights and to monitor and redress human rights violations’.  

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Australia's Human Rights Framework

On 21 April 2010, the Attorney-General launched the Federal Government’s response to the National Human Rights Consultation, entitled ‘Australia’s Human Rights Framework. The Government’s Framework fails to implement the key recommendation of the National Human Rights Consultation Report – supported by over 87% of a record 35,000 submissions – that Australia enact a federal Human Rights Act.

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A New Equality Law: Victoria Moves in the Right Direction

On 9 March, the Equal Opportunity Bill 2010 was introduced into Victorian Parliament.  The proposed legislative reforms include the establishment of new mechanisms designed to respond to systemic discrimination and promote substantive equality. The reforms respond to a major review of the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 conducted by Julian Gardner in 2007-2008 which found that Victoria’s anti-discrimination legislation is ineffective in addressing the systemic discrimination that is entrenched in our institutions and social structures.  As the Attorney-General recognised in the Bill’s second reading speech, ‘Victorians are competing on uneven ground… we need to level the playing field’.

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Major report on 'Developing a Bill of Rights' for the UK

The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission has just released a major research report on ‘Developing a Bill of Rights for the UK’. The report aims to ‘identify and explore best practice processes for developing a new Bill of Rights for the UK’.  The report analyses evidence from related domestic and international experiences (including the ACT, Victoria and Australia) and identifies key principles to underpin the development of a Bill of Rights, regardless of which political party is in power.

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Taser Expansion May Harm the Vulnerable

The announcement that Victoria Police will conduct a trial to roll-out Tasers to all uniformed and traffic management police in Bendigo and Morwell leaves vulnerable groups at risk of greater harm. “This announcement reflects the race to the bottom in the Victorian Government’s pre-election law and order agenda. We are seeing good, evidence-based policy being discarded in favour of policies that won’t work and that will place Victorians at greater risk, particularly our most vulnerable groups,” said Emily Howie, a senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Resource Centre.

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Indigenous Rights: Special Rapporteur releases report on Northern Territory Emergency Response

The 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.

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Human Rights and Foreign Policy: Australia Could Become a 'AAA' State

In the course of the recent periodic review of Australia by the UN Human Rights Committee, one of the independent experts called on Australia to grasp its opportunity – and fulfil its obligation – to become a ‘AAA’ human rights state. This paper, entitled 'Australia, Human Rights and Foreign Policy' (2009) 34(4) Alternative Law Journal 218, responds to three issues raised by that call.

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