Submission on Draft National Human Rights Action Plan
ALHR welcomed the opportunity contribute to the next stage of consultation in the Government’s National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP), making a detailed submission on the Exposure Draft
ALHR submission on mandatory minimum sentences for people smuggling
ALHR yesterday made a submission supporting a Bill that proposes to remove current provisions of the Migration Act which provide for minimum penalties for persons found guilty of aggravated people smuggling offences. The minimum penalties range from 5 to 8 years imprisonment. The minimum mandatory sentencing regime has been widely criticised for its inhumane and … Read More >>
ALHR Submission on Anti-Discrimination Law Consolidation
In this substantial submission to the Attorney-General’s project to consolidate Commonwealth anti-discrimination law, ALHR made 34 recommendations on the legislative regime to protect Australians from discrimination.
Submission on Crimes Amendment (Fairness for Minors) Bill
ALHR welcomed the opportunity to make a submission on the Crimes Amendment (Fairness for Minors) Bill 2011, which amends certain evidentiary procedures in the Migration Act that have an impact on minors implicated in people smuggling offences. Specifically, the Bill defines timeframes and establishes evidentiary procedures for the age determination and prosecution of non-citizens who … Read More >>
Common Law v Human Rights: Which Better Protects Freedoms?
Feature article by West Australian and National Committee member John Southalan. The common law and human rights both provide important protections for individuals, groups and society in general. Along with this benefit, however, both human rights and the common law have shortcomings with their protections able to be limited or lost for many reasons, depending … Read More >>
The Cluster Munitions Debate in Australia
The Commonwealth Parliament has recently been debating legislation to domestically ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was signed by the Australian government in 2008. Serious concerns have been expressed about the breadth of exemptions which the government has inserted into the implementing legislation, which would permit weapons to be stockpiled on Australian soil in … Read More >>
New approach required on refugee debate
ALHR President Stephen Keim’s regular column in Brisbane Legal magazine. This month Mr Keim writes in support of the Centre for Policy Development’s Report ‘A New Approach: Breaking the Stalemate on Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ CPD Report ‘A New Approach’
Presentations at the Amnesty International Conference
ALHR President Stephen Keim SC was a guest speaker at the Amnesty International Conference in Brisbane on 6-7 October 2011. The Conference, under the theme ‘Change the World’, marked the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International. Mr Keim gave a workshop paper on ‘The Human Rights Framework: What Does it Offer?’, and participated in a panel … Read More >>
The Human Rights Framework: What Does it Offer?
Speech by ALHR President Stephen Keim SC at the Amnesty International (Qld & Nth NSW Branch) Indigenous Rights Conference on 5 October 2011
ALHR Submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-Generals Consultation on draft NHRAP Baseline Study
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights recently put forward a submission to the Attorney Generals consultation on its draft Baseline Study for a National Human Rights Action Plan.
ALHR endorses Pretoria Statement on strengthening the UN treaty system
ALHR endorsed the Pretoria Statement on the Strengthening and Reform of the UN Human Rights Treaty Body System. The statement was an outcome of a civil society consultation hosted at the University of Pretoria from 20-21 June 2011, and builds on a series of consultations and statements on reform of the treaty body system, representing … Read More >>
Human Rights Considerations Important in Setting Proposed Minerals Resource Rent Tax
In response to the Federal Government’s consultation regarding the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, ALHR made a submission urging the Gillard Government to consider Australia’s international treaty obligations which obliged the Government to use “maximum available resources” to ensure the human rights of Australians.