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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 >>

ALHR National Human Rights Conference 2017 Registrations Now Open

posted on December 10, 2016

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! Please see below for further details about the conference and how to register.  We look forward to seeing you all there, and having your important contributions to Australia’s practice … Read More >>

ALHR Meets with UN Special Rapporteur on Racism and Xenophobia

posted on December 10, 2016

ALHR’s Dr Tamsin Clarke, Chair of our Freedoms and Human Rights Act Subcommittees, attended a meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, Mr. Mutuma Ruteere, at the Australian Human Rights Commission in Sydney last week. At the meeting ALHR made detailed oral submissions in relation to multiple concerns regarding racism and … Read More >>

Modern Slavery Event

posted on December 9, 2016

The Australian Government recently announced that it is considering a model for large businesses to publicly report on their actions to address supply chain exploitation. This model could potentially follow that of the UK Modern Slavery Act, introduced in 2015 to address the issue of slavery in supply chains via enhanced corporate transparency. The UK … Read More >>

Human rights lawyers applaud South Australian Parliament’s steps to protect LGBTI rights

posted on December 7, 2016

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) congratulates the South Australian Parliament for enacting four important pieces of legislation that will protect the rights of LGBTI South Australians. Today, in the last sitting week of parliament, the Legislative Council passed the following bills into law: – The Statutes Amendment (Surrogacy Eligibility) Bill 2016 – The Adoption … Read More >>

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights welcome expungement of Queensland homosexual convictions

posted on December 4, 2016

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) is pleased to see Queensland follow New South Wales and Victoria to expunge convictions for homosexuality. In an important step to rectify a history of discrimination, Queensland’s Attorney-General Yvette D’Arth has introduced the draft bill to Parliament. This will affect hundreds of men convicted under Queensland law for consensual … Read More >>

Time to Tackle Slavery

posted on December 3, 2016

Modern Slavery pollutes global and domestic supply chains and permeates economic activity. It desperately needs addressing to end the exploitation of vulnerable workers, both at home and overseas. Amy Sinclair, Chair of our Business and Human Rights Subcommittee, has been working to address this and ALHR is proud to support business, anti-slavery and religious groups … Read More >>