Media Releases

As the war in Israel and Palestine enters its second year and spreads throughout the surrounding region, the Human Rights Law Centre mourns the unthinkable scale of destruction and loss of life.

Ten international civil society organisations with extensive experience in human rights and environmental issues warn that the lack of prior consultation of the 11 Indigenous Peoples of Jujuy in the approval process for the reform of the provincial constitution is incompatible with international human rights and environmental standards.

In light of an imminent military operation by the Israeli Defense Force in Rafah and the ongoing assault on Gaza, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister Penny Wong, Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC with an urgent call for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people. 

In the wake of interim orders made by the International Court of Justice on 26 January 2024, the Human Rights Law Centre calls for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people, including by supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights, social services, health, youth, religious and legal advocates have expressed deep concerns in an open letter about the mistreatment of children in the Victoria’s youth prisons.

The United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland. 

The United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland. 

Australia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol - by 20 January 2023 - but Australian governments are not on track to meet this deadline. 

This week, the Australian Government is set to be questioned by the United Nations anti-torture watchdog on its compliance with the UN’s anti-torture treaty - the Convention Against Torture. Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre have briefed the Committee overseeing Australia’s compliance with the anti-torture treaty, and call on the Albanese Government to end human rights abuses behind bars ahead of the country’s report being considered this week.

A statement of concern from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Community Legal Centres NSW, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), Amnesty International Australia, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), First People’s Disability Network Australia (FPDNA) and Change the Record.

The Albanese Government must end the practice of locking people in immigration detention for years on end in dire conditions, human rights experts have told the United Nations, ahead of its investigation of the Australian government’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture treaty. It must also repeal laws that are resulting in record numbers of people being detained.

In a joint submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre call on the Albanese government to end human rights abuses in prisons and police cells. Mistreatment that can amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is too common in prisons and police cells across the country.

The Morrison government must ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is independent and effective, following revelations that the Commission’s “A status” may be downgraded.

A letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member States of the United Nations in Geneva and New York from HRLC and other human rights organisations calling for Russia to be suspended from Human Rights Council.

Australia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol – by the end of January 2022 – but no state, territory or Commonwealth government except for Western Australia is on track to meet this deadline.

12 charities including First Nations, religious and human rights groups have written to three UN Special Rapporteurs requesting urgent intervention to stop new rules being proposed by the Morrison Government which could shut charities down for speaking out.

The Australian Government has today refused to accept the calls of dozens of countries to stop imprisoning children under the age of 14 years old, and to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

The Australian government has been criticised for failing to accept critical recommendations from a major UN review into its human rights record.

Australia’s human rights performance was in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.

Australia’s human rights performance will be in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.

In 2021 Australia will have its human rights record assessed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR provides an opportunity for other nations to identify human rights problems in Australia and make recommendations about possible solutions.

The Australian Government should support an urgent resolution in the UN Human Rights Council for an independent investigation into systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protest in the US, say Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations.

An alliance of civil society and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and senior academics have told the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the Morrison Government's response to COVID-19 that there must be greater oversight of places of detention both during the pandemic and beyond.

More than 200 not-for-profit and community organisations have backed a major report calling on the Australian Government to strengthen its commitment to human rights in its laws, policies and practices.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, addressed the United Nations in Geneva to call out the Morrison Government’s continued cruel treatment of people still held on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea.

As International Women’s Day nears, the UN has heard that Australia is set to undermine people’s healthcare, while giving religious bodies unprecedented privileges to discriminate with laws that will make it harder for women to access contraception and abortion.

Australia’s human rights record is set to face intense scrutiny in 2020 when the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major four yearly human rights review.

There is a grave risk the Morrison Government is “stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia” if serious changes aren’t made to Australia’s social security system, the United Nations expert on poverty has warned.     

The Australian Government has used its voice at the UN Human Rights Council to raise concerns of serious human rights abuses committed by Saudi authorities.

A landmark, new standard has been set in international human rights guidelines with the expert UN Child Rights Committee recommending laws be changed to ensure that children under the age of 16 years "may not legally be deprived of their liberty".