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Rights and Freedoms
28 June 2020Media ReleaseImplementing OPCAT in Australia released
The Commission has today released recommendations for how Australia should implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). Implementing OPCAT in Australia is the final step in the Commission’s consultation process with civil society, inspectorate and monitoring bodies, and a number of state and territory… -
Legal
6 May 2014SubmissionInquiry into the Migration Amendment (Regaining Control Over Australia’s Protection Obligations) Bill 2013
1 Introduction The Australian Human Rights Commission makes this submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee in its Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Regaining Control Over Australia’s Protection Obligations) Bill 2013. The Commission is established by the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) and is Australia’s national human rights… -
Sex Discrimination
8 December 2022SpeechNational Press Club Address: Changing Laws, Changing Behaviours, Changing Lives
Speech by Australia's National Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, to the National Press Club on 30 November, 2022. -
14 December 2012Book page
Foreword - Effectively preventing and responding to sexual harassment: A Code of Practice for Employers (2008)
Welcome to the 2008 edition of Effectively preventing and responding to sexual harassment: A Code of Practice for Employers (Code of Practice). This publication provides practical guidance to employers on how to meet their legal obligations to prevent and manage sexual harassment in the workplace. -
14 December 2012Book page
7. Refugee Status Determination for Children in Immigration Detention
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that around half of the 50 million displaced persons in the world are children. Around 10 million of these children are under the care of UNHCR. Approximately 100,000 separated children roam Western Europe.(1) During 1999 alone, more than 20,000 separated children applied for asylum in Western Europe, North America or Australia… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
19 September 2017SpeechMaking detention safe and humane: can we grasp a once-in-a-generation opportunity?
Making detention safe and humane: can we grasp a once-in-a-generation opportunity? Austin Asche Oration Australian Academy of Law and Charles Darwin University Nitmiluk Lounge, Level 4, Parliament House, Darwin 5pm, 19 September 2017 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Introduction Acknowledgements Traditional Aboriginal owners, the Larrakia people Austin Asche AC QC (former NT Administrator and Chief… -
Commission – General
14 December 2012SpeechSite navigation
Human rights are said to be universal and indivisible. This paper explores how far that universality introduces human rights principles into the functions and work of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The answer, I think, could be “further than you realise”. -
Disability Rights
7 May 2024Webpage
Lessons from IncludeAbility
Watch the webinar with the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne on the background, lessons and evaluation findings from IncludeAbility as well as next steps... -
14 April 2015Book page
6 Giving effect to the Declaration
6.1 Introduction 6.2 Steps taken by the Australian Government to implement the Declaration 6.3 Giving effect to the Declaration 6.4 Conclusion and recommendations 6.1 Introduction Throughout my term, I have continually emphasised the importance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [565] (the Declaration). The Declaration is the most comprehensive and advanced… -
14 December 2012Book page
Commission Website: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
I looked up and saw a long line of men, women and children waiting to have their blood taken. I was standing beside a small table in a RAAF tent with a co-worker. It was 40 degrees Celsius in the Kimberly November humidity. Both ends of our tent were open in a vain attempt to get a breeze through as we worked side by side with flies buzzing around our faces and hands and sweat running down our… -
14 December 2012Book page
A Time to Value - Part A
In August 2001, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) began a comprehensive examination of the need or otherwise for a national paid maternity leave scheme in Australia. -
Legal
14 December 2012Webpage
Minister for Immigration v Ah Hin Teoh
1. On 20 November 1989 the Convention on the Rights of the Child ("the Convention") (ATS 1991 No 4) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations and opened for signature, ratification and accession (see Cth Gaz No GN I, 13 January 1993, p 85). On 22 August 1990 the Convention was signed for Australia (see ATS 1991 No 4, P 35, n 1). On 2 September 1990, pursuant to Article… -
Technology and Human Rights
16 December 2019Media ReleaseCommission calls for ethical AI
Learn more about how Australians need ethical AI which is designed and deployed to protect human rights. -
Rights and Freedoms
13 February 2017Opinion piece
OPCAT could revolutionise Australia's treatment of detainees
The federal government has announced it will ratify and implement the OPCAT treaty . Few people will have heard of OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture). It creates no new legal rights. Yet it could be the single most positive step this decade in improving conditions in all Australian places of detention. OPCAT will enhance how independent bodies inspect places of… -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
11 December 2019SpeechInaugural National Indigenous Women’s Leadership Symposium
[Introduction in Bunuba] Jalangurru lanygu wiyi yani. I want to pay my respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land we meet on today, and to their elders both past and present. I also want to thank and congratulate the organisers of this event – everyone at Women in Leadership Australia and everyone at Women’s Business. Well thank you all for having… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
15 June 2021Media Release
Commission urges immediate action on COVID-19 risk to people in immigration detention
The Australian Government must act urgently to reduce the number of people in closed immigration detention in response to the ongoing risks posed by COVID-19, according to a new report by the Australian Human Rights Commission. Management of COVID-19 risks in immigration detention recommends new safety measures be introduced to protect people in immigration detention, and the wider community… -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2000: Appendix 1
(a) whether the finding of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee) that the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 is inconsistent with Australia's international legal obligations, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, is sustainable on the weight of informed opinion; -
14 December 2012Book page
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Australia's Immigration Detention Centres are contradictory to the human rights of the child. The Immigration Detention experience is extremely harmful to children and has effects of traumatisation and re-traumatisation during the Detention experience and continuing after release. Concerning alternatives to Detention, the present options are also not geared towards the best interest of the child. -
Rights and Freedoms
14 December 2012Speech
Don Chipp Foundation Defending Democracy Public Forum “What a Bill of Rights could deliver for Australia”: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2005)
Many of you here would have read Tony Stephen’s SMH article ‘Stand up for your rights stuff’ of Saturday 8 October, where he gave an account of the launch by New Matilda of a campaign to install a Bill of Rights in Australia. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
27 January 2016Opinion piece
Government’s Healthy Welfare Card no solution to alcohol abuse
In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country, old wounds are being reopened. Many of our people are being forced to revisit the past trauma of income management and stolen wages. The federal government’s Healthy Welfare Card has created great concern and contention, as the measure will disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and…