NGO Report to UN Committee Against Torture 2014
In a detailed joint report, a coalition of non-government organisations has assessed Australia’s track record against the UN’s Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment...
View ArticlePunishing disadvantage will only exacerbate over imprisonment
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are the fastest growing prisoner demographic in Australia. Last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed us that in the past 12 months alone,...
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Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Australia?
A conversation with Tom Calma AO and Ron Merkel QC Join us for a broad discussion ranging from the over-imprisonment of Indigenous peoples; the need for recognition of Indigenous peoples in...
View ArticleAboriginal deaths in custody must end
This article was first published in The Australian. There is a suffocating sense of grief as we sit drinking tea in the backyard of Carol Roe, Julieka Dhu’s grandmother. Carol raised Julieka. She...
View ArticleUN prepares to question Australia regarding torture, cruel, inhumane and...
Australia’s form is bad and getting worse when it comes to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, the United Nations will hear tomorrow. The UN’s Committee...
View ArticleAustralia must take action to improve its compliance with Convention Against...
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has overnight condemned Australia’s asylum seeker policies and expressed serious concerns at the rates of violence against women and indigenous...
View ArticleJustice targets needed to reduce indigenous disadvantage
This article was first published by The Canberra Times. Locking up large numbers of indigenous people means more kids in care, more broken families, fewer people in jobs and fewer teenagers at school....
View ArticleAustralia’s increasing disrespect for UN to be highlighted in lead up to...
The United Nations’ peak human rights body will tonight be urged to question Australia on its increasingly regressive approach to human rights in the lead up to a major review. The statement to be...
View ArticleHRLC statement to the 28th session of the Human Rights Council
Thank you Mr. President In 2011, Australia was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review. At the time, NGOs welcomed the Government’s acceptance of a large number of recommendations and its...
View ArticleHigh Court action against NT to challenge police powers which will...
Today the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) will commence a High Court challenge against the ‘paperless arrest’ regime in the Northern Territory that gives police new detention powers....
View ArticleNearly 200 organisations outline concern for UN over Australia’s declining...
Australia’s steadily deteriorating human rights performance has been highlighted in a major report compiled by nearly 200 organisations around Australia. It will be presented to the United Nation’s...
View ArticleAboriginal imprisonment rates jump in Victoria prompting calls for ‘justice...
A recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Victoria has seen one of the largest jumps in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rates in the country. Aboriginal people in...
View ArticleA new blueprint for reducing Aboriginal imprisonment rates and building...
The rapidly increasing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples caught up in the criminal justice system is one of the most significant human rights issues in Australia....
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Sold out: Breaking the cycle of Aboriginal over-imprisonment
In the last 12 months, Victoria recorded the second largest increase in Aboriginal imprisonment rates in Australia. Aboriginal people are now 13 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal...
View ArticleNeed for answers to brutal bashing of Aboriginal man in prison
An independent inquiry is needed into the violent bashing of an Aboriginal man in custody in the Australian Capital Territory. Less than 3 hours after being remanded at the ACT’s Alexander Maconochie...
View ArticleNT’s youth justice practices risk breaching human rights
The Northern Territory’s youth justice practices risk breaching international human rights law by failing to prioritise the best interests of young people. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Senior...
View ArticleAboriginal deaths in custody: NT’s ‘paperless arrest’ police powers need...
This article was first published by The Age. A respected Aboriginal man from central Australia died in Darwin’s police cells two weeks ago. Few facts are known: he was taken into custody for minor...
View ArticleStolen Generation family seeks justice on legal costs
A West Australian Aboriginal family have asked the High Court for permission to appeal against a decision that they pay legal costs to the Western Australian Government, following an unsuccessful...
View ArticleExperts and community groups call for Victoria’s equal opportunity laws to be...
Equal opportunity laws should proactively tackle discrimination and promote equality, according to a large coalition of community organisations and legal experts. Twenty-eight community organisations,...
View ArticleLatest stats reveal Indigenous imprisonment crisis is worsening
The latest Australian prison statistics released yesterday show the crisis of Indigenous imprisonment in Australia is getting worse. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said the...
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