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Lawyers Slam President Trump’s ‘Absolute’ Support of Torture & Call on Foreign Minister Bishop to Follow Suit

posted on January 29, 2017

Picture Credit: American Civil Liberties Union  Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has slammed President Trump’s erroneous and eerie assertion that torture “absolutely…works”. In his first television interview since inauguration, President Trump suggested that Americans should engage in medieval torture because Isis was doing it and “we have to fight fire with fire”. ALHR takes … Read More >>

ALHR opposes access to Retained Metadata for Civil Litigation

posted on January 27, 2017

ALHR strongly opposes the use of data retained under the mandatory retention scheme for non-criminal and non-security matters involving civil litigation.  The mandatory data retention scheme was claimed by the Commonwealth Government to be purely a targeted and proportional response to perceived security threats. The Inquiry is considering the possibility of opening up access to all of the … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights supports the Day of the Endangered Lawyer

posted on January 24, 2017

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) calls on all countries to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional obligations without fear of retribution. ALHR has always been saddened by news of lawyers facing consequences such as being silenced, harassed, kidnapped, imprisoned, injured and killed for fulfilling their roles as advocates. 24 January 2017, … Read More >>

“2017 is the Year for Promoting & Protecting Human Rights in Australia” National conference examining Australia’s human rights performance looms

posted on January 23, 2017

At a time when Australians’ human rights have never been more under threat, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) will hold a two-day national conference focused on improving human rights protections in Australia from February 17. The conference will bring together leaders in law, academia, business and community sectors and aims to improve strategic planning … Read More >>

Renew your membership or join us as a new member in 2017

posted on January 14, 2017

Membership of ALHR provides unique opportunities to advocate for the protection of human rights and enhances your professional development. Paid membership enables ALHR to continually grow its capacity to assist the victims of human rights violations in Australia and support lawyers in the practice of human rights law. If you are new to ALHR simply click here to … Read More >>

ALHR National Human Rights Conference 2017 Registrations

posted on January 8, 2017

The inaugural ALHR National Human Rights Conference will be held on the 17th and 18th February 2017 at the La Trobe University City Campus in Melbourne. We are very excited to announce that registrations are now open! If you are an undergraduate or postgraduate law student scroll down for details of our student op-ed completion which offers the chance to win flights, accomodation and free conference … Read More >>

ALHR slams unethical behaviour of Centrelink as abuse of legal process

posted on January 6, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE For immediate release – 4 January 2017  The current attacks upon past and present pension payment recipients by Centrelink and the Minister for Social Services are “wrong at so many legal levels that it’s hard to know where to begin,”, ALHR President Benedict Coyne said. “At the most basic level, no entity should … Read More >>

Woefully inadequate in protecting basic universal standards of human rights’: National report card released on Australia’s human rights performance for 2016

posted on December 30, 2016

ALHR has issued National Report Cards on Australia’s human rights performance for 2016 for all State and Territory Governments as well as for the Federal Government. Over the next two weeks ALHR will issue further subject specific federal report cards on each of ALHR’s areas of strategic focus for 2016. Read on below for a summary … Read More >>

UN Forum in Focus

posted on December 21, 2016

Chair of ALHR’s Business and Human Rights Subcommittee, Amy Sinclair, reflects on the Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, 2016 Last month, I braved the long-haul and flew from Australia to Geneva to experience the Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. And it is, very much, an experience. Now in its 5th … Read More >>

Coroners findings into death of Ms Dhu deeply disturbing

posted on December 16, 2016

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) is deeply concerned by the shocking Coroner’s findings, released today, regarding the death in custody of a 22 year old Yamatji woman in August 2014. Ms Dhu had been detained in the South Hedland lockup for unpaid fines. ALHR strongly supports WA State Coroner Ros Fogliani’s key recommendations and … Read More >>

Extensions for ‘s18C’ submissions – there’s still time

posted on December 13, 2016

Stand up for protections against race hate speech: still time to make your submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Freedom of Speech Use the Templates under the heading “Attachments” at the bottom of this page by clicking on the relevant Attachment template to download the Word document. Submission closing date has been extended to 23 December 2016 … Read More >>