This article is part of our December theme, which focuses on one of the least appreciated but most fundamental aspects of well-being: housing. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. The problem of elder abuse has come to be more clearly known through the efforts of many over the last 10 to 15 years. […]
Our December 2011 content focuses one of the least appreciated but most fundamental aspects of well-being: housing. Henrietta Zeffert sets the scene by illuminating the meaning of a right to housing in the legal sense and the integral place of the home in lived experience, in The Home in Human Rights. Ellena Savage continues the […]
A free public forum held by a coalition of organisations, including the Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria (FCLC), Flat Out, the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People (CHRIP), Inside Access, and Smart Justice, offered perspectives on Victoria’s prison system from diverse speakers. The forum took place in the wake of the Baillieu […]
The Visioning Justice radio documentary project was recently launched at the Arena Project Space. Magistrate Pauline Spencer officially opened the launch, with performances by Still Waters Black Women’s Storytelling Collective and presentations of documentaries produced by the project’s participants. Funded through the Legal Services Board Grants Program, Visioning Justice is the culmination of many years’ […]
Mark Holcroft’s fatal heart attack in a prisoner transport van on 27 August, 2009 highlights the widespread flaws and reluctance for reform in the Australian correctional system. The results of an inquest by NSW State Coroner Paul McMahon were released in August of this year, identifying multiple failures by NSW Correctional Services and making a […]
This article was first published on the Castan Centre’s blog. You can access the blog here for more great articles on human rights law. A shorter form of this article was also published in The Conversation. You can also read Blink, a short story inspired by the Occupy Melbourne eviction. I received a text message […]
Blink is a short story inspired by the recent eviction of Occupy Melbourne from City Square. Click here to read an eyewitness account of the eviction by our Editor-in-Chief, Andre Dao, with an accompanying photo gallery. Adam didn’t blink from the high pitched screams. His eye simply pressed harder against the viewfinder, making sure the […]
The Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) held its second annual Law and Social Change Dialogue on Thursday 25 August at the State Library of Victoria. Friday 26 August 2011 marked 10 years since the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa came to the aid of a group of asylum seekers, mainly of Afghani background, whose boat […]
28 September 2011 Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt has been found guilty of breaching section 18 (c) of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 in the Federal Court of Australia. The case had been brought before the Federal Court by nine indigenous Australian’s including academic Professor Larissa Behrendt, activist Pat Eatock, author Anita Heiss and former […]
A recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report alleges that Australia’s aid agency AusAID partly funds drug rehabilitation centres in Vietnam that have committed human rights violations. The report claims drug users admitted voluntarily by family members, or involuntarily after being detained by police or authorities, are subjected to forced labour, inhumane and degrading treatment, and […]
22 September 2011 Yesterday 21 September, the Australian government introduced into federal parliament amendments to the Migration Act 1958, which it says are needed to ensure that the Malaysia deal is beyond any High Court challenge. The Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 amends the Migration Act 1958 and the Immigration […]
19 September 2011 Last Wednesday 14 September, the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC) of the Victorian Parliament tabled its final report on the review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and the Responsibilities Act (2006). If the committee’s recommendations are accepted courts will have “no role in enforcing human rights and providing […]
