Samaya Chanthaphavong interviewed Aloysia Brooks, founder of the Justice Campaign which calls upon the Australian government to enact federal human rights legislation, and to open an independent and public investigation into David Hicks’ detention and conviction by the Guantanamo military commission. Aloysia Brooks is a human rights and social justice advocate who campaigns for the […]
Twenty years on from the Mabo decision, and fifty since Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people won the right to vote, Right Now is focusing on Indigenous People and their human rights. Our content for this month attempts to strike a delicate balance between the positive and the negative. On the one hand, a simple […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. On 26 May 1997 the Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (Bringing Them Home) was tabled in the Australian […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. Comments on the You Me Unity Expert Panel Report on recognising Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. In November 2010, the federal government established an Expert Panel to consider options for amending […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. In February, Right Now focused on the topic of prisoners’ rights; an issue notable by its absence from the human rights debate in Australia. Sarah Morgante from Whitelion acknowledged that: “It’s […]
Dr Graham Thom is Amnesty International’s Refugee Spokesperson. Dr Thom has been Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Coordinator since 2000, working on behalf of individual asylum seekers as well as on broader human rights issues relating to refugees. In February, Dr Thom was part of a recent Amnesty delegation that visited immigration detention centres around Australia […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. When the High Court delivered its judgment in Mabo (No 2) on 3 June 1992, twenty years ago today, I appeared in Canberra for the two remaining plaintiffs, Dave Passi and […]
As rallies are held world wide to show support for Julian Assange, who recently lost his fight against extradition to Sweden and will possibly appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, Samaya Chanthaphavong spoke to David Campbell, president of the Pirate Party Australia on Wikileaks, Julian Assange and internet freedom as a human right. […]
Last night, Lateline reported on a five-year-old refugee who faced the prospect of being separated from his father forever. His father had failed an ASIO security assessment, which under current policies means he is to be detained indefinitely with no right of appeal. According to the report, 46 proven refugees are being locked up indefinitely […]
In the second half of the 1970s, Indonesia’s war against the people of East Timor caused the largest loss of life relative to population since the Holocaust. Reputable and widely used demographic techniques have shown that 30 per cent of East Timor’s population died during the war. What did the Australian Government know about the catastrophe in […]
Today, in an interview with the ABC, US President Barack Obama declared his support for marriage equality – the legality of same-sex marriages. The move, coming six months before he stands for re-election, is the latest in a series of political steps in that direction. Six months ago, late in 2011, witnessed a beginning of […]
Much has been written about the complicity of people smugglers and their networks in transporting asylum seekers to Australian shores. In Australia, the arrival of “boat people” has generated intense political debate, especially since the Tampa incident in 2001. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described people smugglers as “engaged in the world’s most evil trade […]
