By Tania Penovic. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. The emergence of ‘no advantage’ as a guiding principle in Australian refugee policy is examined below with reference to recent developments in the management of asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat. On 28 June 2012, the […]
Throughout December 2012 and January 2013 Right Now will publish a number of articles around the theme of asylum seekers. This time around we’re taking a more creative turn – with the majority in December being short stories and poems. To get you ready, here’s a bit of a retrospective … Over the past year-and-a-half, Right […]
By Jess Kapuscinski Evans. I’ve been involved in the arts since I was a child, performing in teenage choirs and theatre groups just like many other kids my age. Unlike everyone else, I use a wheelchair full-time and need assistance with most tasks of so-called daily living. I have since gone on to have a […]
By James Petty. The question of human rights in relation to coercive treatment for substance use is, unsurprisingly, complicated. The concept of “addiction” exists within a complex web of legal categories, medical science, social values and cultural practices, all of which work to colour the way we view these issues. In 2010 the Victorian parliament […]
By Holly Kendall. Australia has just spent at least 24 million dollars to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Right Now investigates how Australia can use its seat to advance human rights in Australia. The Security Council was formed in 1945 under the United Nations Charter with the “primary responsibility for the […]
By Hsin-Yi Lo “Children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival […]
By Karen Akehurst. PART II The basis of criminal law is intent and this is where the law often betrays people with intellectual disability. It was our common experience to find that a person had either been deliberately set up to commit an offence by someone else, or to find that they were indeed guilty […]
By Karen Akehurst PART I Very few people develop greater insight into the machinations of the Australian criminal justice system than the invisible support worker. My experience as Co-ordinator for a specialist legal support service for people with intellectual disabilities in the NSW criminal justice system was like watching a real life game of snakes […]
When workers in industries other than mine are organising for rights, their ability to speak on what they need as workers is rarely questioned. However, when it comes to sex workers there is an assumption that we can’t even articulate what we want as workers, and that we can’t organise together. It is often argued […]
By Dr Peter Wigg. I have recently returned to Melbourne after fifteen months on a reconstructive surgery program for victims of armed conflict in the Middle East. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), for whom I worked, has hired hospital and accommodation space in Amman in Jordan, and brings patients there on short-term visas from Iraq, Yemen, […]
“The violence in my childhood has led to me having schizophrenia” Meet 18-year-old Brenton*. He migrated to Australia from Madrid when he was two, along with his father and sister. Within a few years, his dad deserted the children. Brenton and his sister were placed in foster care. Their foster father was violent and subjected […]
By Dr Scott Hollier. This article is part of our October focus on Disability Rights. The Australian Government has been working hard over the past two years to ensure that all federal and most state government websites meet the minimal Level “A” requirement of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 by the end of this […]