The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the missing human rights considerations in federal government decisions and policies, the Human Rights Law Centre today told the Federal Government COVID-19 inquiry on behalf of the Charter of Rights campaign, a coalition made up of over 90 organisations.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed proposed amendments to Victoria’s new pandemic law, which will lead to stronger human rights protections and increased independent oversight of the government’s pandemic response.
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With Victoria’s current state of emergency set to expire on 16 December 2021 and unable to be extended, the Victorian Government has introduced a proposed new pandemic law.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today welcomed the announcement of moves to abolish hotel quarantine in NSW and Victoria for vaccinated people who test negative. Last week, the NSW Government announced the abolition of hotel quarantine from 1 November for vaccinated people. Today, the Victorian Government announced a home quarantine trial from 27 October.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the immediate introduction of home quarantine programs in NSW and Victoria for people coming from overseas.
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The Human Rights Law Centre warns of the human rights risks of mandating vaccines outside of high-risk areas and called for greater focus on supply and voluntary measures.
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Human rights lawyers are calling on the Morrison Government to act urgently to ensure the safety of people held in immigration detention centres around Australia, amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Read MoreThe undersigned members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) join the urgent international call for universal, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in the context of the stark inequality in the global distribution of the vaccines already produced and ordered.
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The Australian government’s visa laws are devastating families and keeping parents away from their children for years, a Senate Committee inquiry has been told. The landmark inquiry into the Morrison government’s family migration policies has received evidence from legal experts and people separated from their families, which show a broken system in urgent need of reform.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Morrison Government to abandon its travel bans and facilitate the safe return home of Australians in India as COVID-19 rates escalate in the country.
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A coalition of refugee organisations has condemned the federal government’s decision to slash support to people seeking asylum in the 2020-21 Budget. This decision, they say, puts over 100, 000 people, including around 16, 000 children, at further risk of homelessness and destitution.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Victorian Government to amend proposed legislation currently before the Victorian Parliament to remove controversial powers to detain people based on what they might do.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today said that human rights scrutiny of Victoria’s curfew was welcome and required.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the compromise reached in the Victorian Parliament to enable the passage of legislation to continue the Victorian Government’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic for a further six months.
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Human rights and legal organisations are today calling on Federal Senators to reject new laws that would allow the Morrison Government to stifle criticism of immigration detention, reduce transparency and cut off crucial support for the people detained in immigration detention.
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With reports today of nearly 130 young people - some as young as 13 - being locked in their cells indefinitely due to the threat of COVID-19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on the Palaszczuk Government to reduce the number of children locked away in Queensland prisons rather than isolating and harming them.
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On 10 August 2020, the Federal Court ordered the Federal Government to stop detaining a 68 year old man at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, due to the health risks of COVID-19.
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Private security contractors have used excessive force against people in Australian immigration detention centres, a damning new report by the independent detention monitoring body has found.
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