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The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires Australia to protect children's rights to cultural identity, language and religion. The most effective way of ensuring enjoyment of these rights is to encourage and allow refugee and asylum-seeking children to participate in cultural and religious activities in the community. The Australian community is well equipped to respond to this need…

Key findings of ADF Review To support and drive the cultural reform envisaged by the ADF Review, strong, clear and consistent leadership is essential. This commitment must be widely communicated and reinforced at all levels of the organisation through policies, practices, rewards and sanctions. Progress must be monitored at the most senior levels regularly and transparently. Every member of…

In addition to the detailed findings in each of Chapters 5-16, the Inquiry has made the following major findings in relation to Australia's mandatory immigration detention system as it applied to children who arrived in Australia without a visa (unauthorised arrivals) over the period 1999-2002.

Australia is a wealthy nation. In 2003, Australia ranked fourth in the United Nations Human Development Index (1) indicating Australians enjoyed one of the highest qualities of life in the world. Overall, Australia ranks equal fourth with the highest life expectancy at birth (79.0 years) suggesting Australians are among the healthiest people in the world. (2)

1. The commission's jurisdiction 2. The complaint 3. The complainant's evidence and submissions 4. Respondent's response 5. Documentary material before the commission 6. Conciliation 7. Preliminary findings of Commissioner Sidoti 8. Response to Commissioner Sidoti's preliminary findings 9. My Further Preliminary Findings 10. Respondent's response to my Further Preliminary Findings 11. Section 21…

In recent years there have been significant developments at the international level that impact upon the recognition and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples. Most notably, there have been: i) reforms to the machinery of the United Nations (UN) and the emphasis given to human rights within that system; ii) the making of global commitments to action, through the Millennium…

7.1 Forming relationships 7.2 The detention environment 7.3 Opportunities for play, learning and development 7.4 Impacts on preschoolers 7.5 Findings specific to preschoolers In preschool children we have seen regressed or disturbed behaviour such as needing to cling to parents at night and refusing to sleep in their own bed; separation anxiety; incontinence; uncharacteristic aggression; the…

1.1 Introduction 1.2 Machinery of Government changes 1.3 The 2014 Budget 1.4 Leadership, representation and engagement 1.5 Constitutional recognition 1.6 Indigenous Jobs and Training Review 1.7 Closing the Gap 1.8 Stolen Generations 1.9 International developments 1.10 Australian Human Rights Commission complaints 1.11 Conclusion 1.1 Introduction At the beginning of this reporting period, we…

Over the millennia, Indigenous peoples have developed a close and unique connection with the lands and environments in which they live. They have established distinct systems of knowledge, innovation and practices relating to the uses and management of biological diversity on these lands and environments.

In accordance with the general principle stated at Guideline 2 and the UNHCR [1] Guidelines on Refugee Children, minors who are asylum seekers should not be detained…

Australia is responsible for ensuring that all children in its jurisdiction can enjoy all applicable human rights, including those in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Refugee Convention. That responsibility may be executed through legislation, executive action and the judicial system. Subject to the Australian…

The Commission is a national independent statutory body established under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986. It has a President and five Commissioners. The five positions are currently held by three persons. Please refer to the organisational chart for further information.

Native title is now well established in Australian law. The native title system was set up in 1994 under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (the Native Title Act). It is for gaining recognition and protection of native title, and for resolving native title matters. It has been successfully used in many parts of the country.

On 21 June 2007, the Australian Government announced a ‘national emergency response to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory’ from sexual abuse and family violence.[1] This has become known as the ‘NT intervention’ or the ‘Emergency Response’. The catalyst for the measures was the release of Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into…

Despite the significant positive developments of the past two years, the Commission remains seriously concerned about some aspects of Australian law and policy on asylum seekers, refugees and immigration detention. The Commission is primarily concerned about the prolonged or indefinite detention and lack of durable solutions or substantive visa pathways for certain groups of people in immigration…