ALHR

 Australian human rights experts welcome news overnight that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has recognised the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and appointed a new Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change. Two resolutions were comfortably passed. The first, proposed by Costa Rica, The Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia … Read More >>

Australian human rights experts are hopeful the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), beginning on 13 September, will see the Core Group on Human Rights and the Environment table a joint resolution to recognise the right to a healthy environment. The Core Group includes the governments of Costa Rica, the Maldives, … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) LGBT Co-Chairs, Georgia Burke and Nicholas Stewart, welcome recent progress within NSW towards identifying suspects allegedly involved in historical LGBT murders.  Georgia and Nicholas said: “While ALHR cannot comment on the details of  arrests, we can say that this has been, and remains, a long and difficult journey for … Read More >>

This Homelessness Week, leading human rights lawyers are calling for laws to protect the fundamental right to adequate housing. More than 116,000 experience homelessness in Australia on any given night, with many more at risk of homelessness. The largest number of those experiencing homelessness are women and children escaping family violence. And many more women … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has called on the Morrison Government to urgently fix its amended travel ban on Australians leaving the country so that decisions of the Australian Border Force (ABF) can be appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). ALHR’s Democratic Freedoms Chair Valerie Heath said, “Despite reports yesterday that Minister Andrews claims Australians … Read More >>

ALHR has joined with 46 organisations in an open letter led by  People With Disability Australia (PWDA) calling on the Commonwealth Attorney-General to rewrite Australia’s disability discrimination laws. ALHR Vice President and Chair of Disability Rights, Natalie Wade, is spokeswoman: “A frustrated alliance of lawyers and community organisations has lobbied the Commonwealth Attorney-General to rewrite Australia’s … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) welcomes the Federal Government’s recent Joint statement with New Zealand on Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang, particularly its call on China to grant meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for United Nations experts, and other independent observers. Madeleine Bridgett, Co-Chair of ALHR’s Business and Human Rights Subcommittee said, “There … Read More >>

Australia’s leading association of human rights lawyers has published a briefing paper examining the Morrison Government’s moves to ban Australians from returning home. Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) President Kerry Weste says, “The issue exposes a gaping void in Australian human rights protections – the absence of a Federal Human Rights Act.” “The travel … Read More >>

Today, ALHR joins 74 Western Australian organisations in calling for WA to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 14 years. More than 70 NGOs and ACCOs in WA collectively endorsed the new report released by coalition Social Reinvestment WA, ‘A Pathway to a Brighter Future for Western Australia’s most at risk children’. … Read More >>

Australia’s leading association of human rights lawyers is urging the Victorian Premier and Attorney General to adopt the recommendations of the Victorian Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee’s inquiry into the adequacy of the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic). The Committee’s report, tabled in March, found the Act failed in its twin purposes … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has criticised the final report from the Joint Select Committee on the One Nation Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020 (the Bill).  ALHR LGBTI CoChair Georgia Burke said, “The report’s findings fail to reflect the considerable evidence provided at the Committee’s hearings. ALHR is shocked by reports … Read More >>

Australia’s leading association of human rights lawyers has expressed profound concern at serious abuses of power by members of NSW Police Strike Force Raptor detailed in a Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) report which was made public late on Friday.  Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) President Kerry Weste said, “The ability of lawyers to … Read More >>