EOI’s Sought: ALHR National Women and Girls’ Rights Committee
EOI’s Sought: Senior Co-Chair & Deputy Chair
Join ALHR’s incumbent Senior Co-Chair, Dr Tania Penovic, in leading our National Women and Girls’ Rights Committee
There are still many areas in Australian society in which women and girls experience unequal treatment and violations of their internationally recognised human rights. As such this area is a critical focus of ALHR’s work. Over the past six years ALHR’s Women and Girls’ Rights Committee (WGR Committee) has drafted numerous submissions to national and international bodies, issued press releases and given media interviews, written letters to ministers and other parliamentarians, and hosted successful and informative events advancing the human rights of women and girls. The ALHR Women and Girls’ Rights Subcommittee has attracted a strong membership base, comprising lawyers, academics and law students, in Australia and beyond, with a keen interest in women and girls’ rights issues.
ALHR takes this opportunity to congratulate outgoing Senior Co-Chair, Dr Hannah Tonkin, on her appointment as NSW’s first Women’s Safety Commissioner and we thank both Hannah and outgoing Deputy Chair, Elaine Stops, for their significant contributions to the WGR Committee.
The new Senior Co-Chair and Deputy Chair will join our incumbent Senior Chair, Dr Tania Penovic, in leading and supporting the work of our highly active and engaged WGR Committee.
About Dr Penovic
Dr Tania Penovic is a legal academic with expertise in access to justice, gender equality and the human rights of vulnerable groups. She commences as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University in October 2022, having served the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University for nine years as Deputy Director and two years as research group leader in gender and sexuality. Tania’s qualifications include a Masters in International Human Rights Law (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford and PhD from Monash University and she has won awards for research impact, curriculum design and excellence in teaching. Tania has represented asylum seekers through her volunteer work at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (Melbourne) and Citizens Advice Bureau (UK). She has designed and delivered units in Vietnam National University’s Master of Laws and provided human rights training to judges and government officials from Australia, Indonesia and Iraq.
Tania’s research has been cited by the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia and relied upon in submissions to international courts including the European Court of Human Rights. Tania has provided numerous submissions to state, federal and international inquiries into law reform and human rights which have been cited in federal and state parliaments and reports of the UN Human Rights Council are associated with legislative change.
About The Roles
Senior Co-Chair
Senior Co-Chairs are responsible for leading ALHR’s work in the women and girls’ rights space at a national and international level. The successful applicant will be a lawyer who is passionate about women and girls’ rights and has significant knowledge, experience and expertise in the area. The successful applicant will also be committed to ALHR’s inclusive constitutional purpose and the universal and inalienable, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of human rights.
Senior Co-Chairs are expected to work collaboratively with members of the Women and Girls’ rights subcommittee, other ALHR subcommittees and ALHR’s governing committees in order to facilitate research, coordinate submissions and comprehensive advocacy on women and girls’ rights that is consistent with international human rights law principles, and to present them to key legal and political figures in order to keep the thematic area at the forefront of public discussion.
Senior Co-Chairs are supported, guided by and accountable to ALHR’s National Committee and Executive Management Committee.
Please see the ALHR Senior Co-Chair Position Description for further information about the role.
Deputy Chair
The Deputy Chair will support the Senior Co-Chairs in leading ALHR’s work in the women and girls’ rights space at a local, national and international level. They will be passionate about women and girls’ rights and will ideally have some knowledge, experience or expertise in the area. They will also be committed to ALHR’s inclusive constitutional purpose and the universal, inalienable, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of all human rights.
With the support and supervision of the Senior Co-Chairs and the ALHR National Committee, the Deputy-Chair will also work to lead women and girls’ rights advocacy initiatives including via meeting with stakeholder groups, politicians, engaging in campaign work, contributing to social media communications and acting as a media spokesperson.
We therefore encourage applications from both experienced and young lawyers as well as from law students advanced in their studies.
Applicants will also have:
- An ability to network with key legal, political and public figures in order to engage the general public on the business and human rights;
- The capacity to engage in campaign work, contribute to social media communications and act as a media spokesperson when required;
- Legal research and drafting skills; and
- A commitment to ALHR’s aims and objectives.
ALHR Chairs are supported, guided by and accountable to their Committee Co-Chairs, ALHR’s National Committee and Executive Management Committee.
Please see the ALHR Deputy Chair WGR Committee Position Description for further information.
About ALHR
ALHR was established in 1993 and is a national association of Australian solicitors, barristers, academics, judicial officers and law students who practise and promote international human rights law in Australia. ALHR has active and engaged National, State and Territory committees and specialist thematic committees. Through advocacy, media engagement, education, networking, research and training, ALHR promotes, practices and protects universally accepted standards of human rights throughout Australia and overseas.
ALHR utilises thematic subcommittees to increase the impact of our advocacy and has adopted a co-chair management structure within them. A focus on thematic human rights areas has engaged our members allowing them to concentrate on particular human rights issues and enabling ALHR to deliver a key promise to our paid membership by offering them a voice on human rights and law reform in Australia. This thematic focus also serves to increase the impact of our strategic advocacy and enables ALHR to efficiently target areas of critical focus for Australian human rights practice.
How to Apply
If you would like to formally nominate for this roles, please send an expression of interest and copy of your CV to president@alhr.org.au
Please also feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the role.
Please note that successful applicants will need to maintain a current annual ALHR membership and these are voluntary roles.