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Children's Rights
National Children’s Commissioner slams ‘shocking’ new Qld youth justice laws
The National Children’s Commissioner has expressed alarm at the Queensland Government rushing through legislation to allow children to be detained indefinitely in adult detention facilities, in a further contravention of the Queensland Human Rights Act.
Rights and Freedoms
Australia needs to deliver on our treaty promises
As with any agreement, there are certain requirements that OPCAT signatories need to fulfill, and Australia has been given longer than any other country to meet our OPCAT commitments. Today – 20 January 2023 – is our extended compliance deadline, and Australia has failed to deliver on our promises.
Children's Rights
Governments must urgently address youth justice crisis
The Australian Human Rights Commission calls on all Australian governments to urgently address the national crisis in youth justice to prevent further harm to children in detention, and to reduce youth offending through effective systems of support.
Rights and Freedoms
Human Rights Commissioner to raise juvenile and immigration detention concerns with UN torture committee in Geneva
Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner is set to appear before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva next week to provide analysis of how Australia measures up against our obligations under the UN’s Convention Against Torture (CAT) and its associated Optional Protocol (OPCAT).
Children's Rights
Governments must prioritise raising the age
National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO have urged all Australian governments to raise the age of criminal responsibility as a matter of priority. A report commissioned by a meeting of Attorneys-General in...
Commission – General
August ebulletin
We have heard the words human rights quite a lot in recent weeks, in varied and sometimes inaccurate settings. Measures to protect our health and safety must be balanced with our rights and freedoms, but if there was ever a time to articulate where that line is, it would be now. Which is why last...
Rights and Freedoms
Winners announced - 2018 Human Rights Awards
The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan AM and Chrissie Foster have won the prestigious 2018 Human Rights Medal for their enormous contribution to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Chrissie Foster has long campaigned for justice for survivors of institutional...
Commission – General
Criminal record discrimination
This article by Commission President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher was published in the Australian July 4, 2018 I recently provided a report to the Attorney-General about a man who claimed that he had been refused a job because of his criminal record. The criminal record was very serious. ...
Business and Human Rights
Slavery is a bigger problem now than when it was ‘abolished’ - and it's happening here
A diverse group of leaders from the Australian business community, civil society, the religious community and academia has released a Statement of Support for the development of legislation to combat Modern Slavery.
Children's Rights
Is jail the answer for Australian kids?
This year around 900 children and young people will spend Christmas in jail. More than 5 per cent of this population are between 10 and 12 years old and 74 per cent of this age group are Indigenous. Most have been charged or convicted with petty crimes, like graffiti, vandalism, shop lifting or fare...
Disability Rights
Equal before the law? How the criminal justice system is failing people with disability
I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respect to their elders past and present. I am delighted to be here today to deliver the 2016 Annual Costello Lecture. Last year, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, delivered...
Rights and Freedoms
Logic says Valizadeh shouldn't get a visa
Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh’s freedom of speech won’t be suppressed if the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, denies him a visa. In the past few days there have been increasing calls on the Federal Government to block so-called ‘neo-masculinist’ Valizadeh from entering Australia. Outraged politicians...
Pagination
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