Law and Policy – Page 48

Interview with Aloysia Brooks

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 […]

Editorial: Indigenous People and Human Rights

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 […]

Acknowledgment of Country: Tokenistic or Meaningful?

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 […]

Aboriginal Flag Puzzle Piece

Principles of Recognition

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 […]

Bailing Out Young Offenders

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 […]

Amnesty International’s Refugee Spokesperson Dr Graham Thom

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 […]

Native Title 20 Years on: Time for Reform

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 […]

Interview with David Campbell

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. […]

R2P, Famine and Secret Documents: Remembering East Timor

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 […]

Unraveling the Mystery of People Smuggling Networks

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 […]