President's message | December 2024

It's Human Rights Day; a day to reflect on human rights challenges and progress. 76 years ago today, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the pinnacles of human achievement. In adopting the Declaration after the horrors of World War 2, the international community said, “never again”.  

The Declaration lists 30 rights that are essential for all of us to live a decent dignified life, no matter who we are or where we are. It is said to be the most translated document in human history. The Declaration states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Alongside the human rights treaties that followed it, the Declaration has played a key role in smashing ideas that some people are worth less than others – ideas that gave rise to slavery, colonisation, eugenics, genocide and more.  

Of course, while the Declaration has been a powerful force for progress, injustice continues in Australia and around the world and is intensifying in some areas. Governments, corporations, organisations, communities and individuals need to uphold the rights set out in the Declaration.

A key part of this is making sure that the rights in the Declaration and key treaties are widely understood and enforceable. Rights without remedies are not rights at all.

This is where Australia is lacking. While Australia played a key role in drafting and adopting the Declaration, we haven’t properly protected human rights in Australian law.

This time last year, the Australian Human Rights Commission launched its final Free and Equal report which recommended changes to improve the way we protect people’s rights in this country. Key recommendations include:

• Establishing an Australian Human Rights Act, to properly protect people’s rights in Australian law;
• Reforming Australia’s discrimination laws to improve effectiveness and strengthen their focus on prevention;
• Improving the way the Australian Parliament protects rights;
• Developing a human rights indicator index to measure human rights progress and regress;
• The Australian Government delivering an annual Human Rights Statement to Parliament; and
• The Australian Government adopting a National Human Rights Education Action Plan to improve human rights education.

Implementing these recommendations will go a long way to realising the promise of the Universal Declaration when it was adopted 76 years ago today. 

Hugh de Kretser