By Professor Denise Meyerson. This article is part of our February 2013 focus on Religion and Human Rights. There are a variety of constitutional models governing the relations between the state and religion. These range from atheist states at one end of the spectrum to outright theocracies at the other. In between the two extremes, the extent of […]
By Professor Sarah Joseph. This article is part of our February 2013 focus on Religion and Human Rights. In response to the ongoing cascade of accusations and evidence of systemic and decades long child abuse, the federal government finally announced a Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in November 2012. One possible recommendation is already being mooted, […]
By Dana Affleck. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Hassan is a little younger than me and we have the same cynical sense of humour. When I first met him early last year, he wasn’t very friendly. He just gave me a nod of acknowledgement and a half […]
By Dana Affleck. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. On the black market in Indonesia, there is a high demand for people smugglers. Refugees desperate to escape their persecutors, protect their family and seek freedom are in search of a smuggler who has the key to all that […]
By Jane Hodge and Jana Favero. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Last year the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen announced that the “no advantage” principle would extend to asylum seekers arriving by boat who are released into the community on bridging visas while they wait […]
By Julian Burnside AO QC. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Since about 1998, a significant proportion of boat people coming to Australia have been Hazaras from Afghanistan or Pakistan. On 26 August 2001, the Norwegian cargo ship MV Tampa rescued the passengers of a small boat […]
Given the prominence of the issue of asylum seekers over the past 18 months in particular, we regularly broke from our dedicated monthly themes to bring you the major developments in asylum seeker policy and debate (collected here). Now, we’ve dedicated a full two months of content to it over December 2012 and January 2013. […]
By Shae Courtney and Andrew Williams. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. ‘Asylum Seekers’ Constributions’ by Shae Courtney (Right Now) ‘Response’ by Andrew Williams (Refugee Council of Australia) Asylum Seekers’ Contributions By Shae Courtney. The generosity bestowed upon asylum seekers by the Commonwealth contains some caveats; perhaps, most […]
By Melissa Reid. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Asylum seekers. Refugees. Boat people. Illegal refugees. Queue jumpers. The Other. There seem to be all these different people flocking to Australia to steal “our” riches, corrupt “our” culture, take “our” jobs and plunder “our” taxes. Why do they […]
By Elizabeth Greenhalgh. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. The last decade has seen an unprecedented shift in policies and responses addressing the arrival of asylum seekers in Australia. Despite being a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, punitive government responses aiming to […]
By Benjamin Pynt. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Introduction Under the offshore processing regime, better known as the Pacific Solution Mark II (PSII), some asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru and Manus Island, where they face problems such as endemic antibody-resistant malaria, unsafe drinking water and inadequate […]
By Athena Rogers. Filing in to Federation Square’s riverside function room among hundreds of well-dressed professionals, it was clear that the expectations were high for this International Human Rights Day event. The speaker for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s Annual Human Rights Oration was Ron Merkel QC, presenting a talk entitled “Human […]