Formerly incarcerated women, trans and gender diverse people alongside Flat Out and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling for governments across the country to permanently prohibit the practice of strip searching people in Australian prisons.
Read MoreFollowing many delays, the coronial inquest into the police shooting death of Warlpiri and Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker is set to recommence on 22 February 2024 to hear from the last two witnesses - former NT police officer Zachary Rolfe and Sergeant Lee Bauwens.
Read MoreThe announcement this week that some ten thousand more frontline police and protective services officers (PSOs) in Victoria will be equipped with Tasers is very concerning, according to a coalition of Victorian legal and community services groups.
Read MoreChange the Record and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling on the Miles Government to overhaul the state’s outdated, punitive youth justice system and redirect funding towards a future where no child grows up in a prison cell.
Read MoreAboriginal 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreA joint statement signed by over 100 health, legal, social, community services providers, advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations today reiterated calls for Attorneys-General to stop jailing 10 year old children and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old, with no exceptions.
Read MoreThe Allan Government’s new bail laws will not meet minimum human rights standards and will mean people, including children and young people, are still needlessly funnelled into prisons, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThousands of people will continue to be senselessly funnelled into Victoria’s prisons by the Andrews Government under deferred proposed changes to bail laws, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes will today give evidence to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria, where she is expected to be questioned about the over imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Read More60 Victorian organisations in the Aboriginal, legal, health, faith, youth and human rights sectors, including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, VACCHO, Jesuit Social Services and Human Rights Law Centre, have in a joint letter called on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jacyln Symes to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, no younger, and with no exceptions.
Read MoreIn response to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes’ announcement addressing Victoria’s bail laws, the Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Andrews Government to listen to Aboriginal organisations and expert advice, and commit to wholesale bail reform as recommended by Coroner McGregor.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreAustralia 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.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre will today call on the Andrews government to fast track critical reforms that would immediately reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing injustice at the hands of the criminal legal system, in evidence to be heard by the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations today welcomed the release of a government report and called on Attorneys-General to immediately act on its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility with no exceptions.
Read MoreThe national Raise the Age alliance is calling for Attorneys-General to release a secret government report and immediately enact its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are reiterating calls for a new independent body to investigate allegations of police misconduct in light of research that has found public trust in Victoria Police has hit a new low after countless scandals.
Read MoreWe express profound concern that the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has been forced to take the drastic measure of suspending its visit to Australia due to obstruction encountered while attempting to carrying out its mandate during its visit to Australia under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreIn the lead up to the 2022 Victorian state election, the Human Rights Law Centre this week launched its state election platform calling on all parties to end the state’s mass imprisonment crisis and create a fairer legal system for everyone.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), with support from the Human Rights Law Centre, is taking part in the coronial inquest into the police-shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker.
Read MoreAustralia’s only First Nations justice coalition Change the Record welcomes the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to enact laws ensuring children under the age of 14 years old will not be sent to youth prisons. However, the Coalition urges the Tasmanian Government to fully implement the advice of legal and medical experts and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old to protect very young children from any harmful engagement with the criminal justice system.
Read MoreLong overdue laws that will end the routine strip searching of children in Tasmanian jails passed the Tasmanian Parliament yesterday.
Read MoreA Victorian parliamentary inquiry has called for an overhaul of the state's bail laws following its review of the state’s criminal legal system.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre stands in solidarity with the family of Kumanjayi Walker and the Yuendumu community today.
Read MorePeak national justice, child welfare and advocacy groups have joined calls for the Northern Territory Government to stop using spit hoods and restraints on children.
Read MoreToday, the Andrews Government announced that the City of Yarra, Shepperton, Dandenong and Castlemaine will be the trial site locations where the public health response to public drunkenness will be tested.
Read MoreChange the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre condemned the Northern Territory Government for the skyrocketing number of children it has criminalised and imprisoned - including a ten year old child.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations are calling on the Queensland Government to implement measures to prevent human rights abuses behind bars.
Read MoreThe Raise the Age Coalition has condemned the decision of the Meeting of Attorneys-General to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to only 12 years old as inadequate and failing to improve the lives of children and young people.
Read MoreThe Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling a proposal made at yesterday’s Meeting of Attorneys General (MAG) to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old, an absolute missed opportunity to look after children.
Read MoreNewly obtained data shows that, over a 7-month period, women in Tasmanian jails were subjected to 841 strip searches. Just 3 items were found as a result of the invasive searches.
Read MoreThe Andrews government should use the inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system as the catalyst to finally end mass imprisonment, the Human Rights Law Centre will argue in its evidence to the inquiry.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government must urgently reform its punitive bail laws if it is to meet the justice targets it signed on to in the new Closing the Gap Agreement last year.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and civil liberties organisations have called on the Andrews government to take urgent steps to increase transparency and prevent mistreatment behind bars after a new report has highlighted serious weaknesses in disciplinary processes in Victorian prisons.
Read MoreReflecting on this past week and the looming January 2022 deadline for OPCAT implementation in Victoria, the Andrews Government’s failure to progress implementation of a system of robust, independent detention oversight is incomprehensible.
Read MoreThe Andrews government must take urgent steps to prevent mistreatment and reduce the number of people being funneled into prisons, the Human Rights Law Centre said today, after a new report uncovered serious and systemic wrongdoing in Victoria’s private and public prisons.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Berejiklian Government to ban the routine strip searching of young people in NSW prisons following a damning report by the NSW Ombudsman.
Read MoreIn an unusual move, 48 organisations have today publicly released their submissions to the Council of Attorneys-General working group on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 years old.
Read MoreThe bail reforms introduced in 2018, which were intended to target men who commit violent offences, have in practice impacted women experiencing poverty and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women the most.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has slammed punitive new laws passed by the Gunner government in the Northern Territory late last night.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has today slammed punitive new laws set to be introduced by the Gunner government in the Northern Territory this week.
Read MoreChildren as young as ten in Tasmania can currently be arrested, strip searched and locked up in prison cells. This is out-of-step with medical evidence, human rights law and international standards, with the median age of criminal responsibility worldwide being 14 years old.
Read MoreToday, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and civil liberties organisations wrote to the Acting Premier raising concerns about the ongoing use of 14 day quarantine in prisons.
Read MoreNew laws proposed by the Queensland Government will entrench children from marginalised backgrounds in the quick sand of the youth legal system.
Read MoreToday, historic and long overdue public drunkenness reforms have passed the Victorian Parliament.
Read MoreToday, reforms to decriminalise public drunkenness will be debated in the Victorian Parliament. Victoria is one of only two states in Australia yet to act on the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 30 years ago to decriminalise public drunkenness.
Read MoreAustralia’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.
The Andrews Government will today introduce long overdue reforms to decriminalise public drunkenness into the Victorian Parliament.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government has today released the Expert Reference Group’s (ERG’s) report on public drunkenness reform, which recommends decriminalising public drunkenness and the implementation of a public health response.
Read MoreThe inquest into the death in custody of proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson will continue tomorrow, with its second directions hearing in the Coroners Court of Victoria.
Read MoreThe national Raise the Age coalition of medical, legal, Aboriginal-led and human rights organisations today congratulated the new ACT Labor-Greens Government on its historic commitment to change the law in the ACT and raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreTwo of Australia’s leading human rights organisations - the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia - are calling on the Gutwein Government to prohibit the routine strip searching of children. The Tasmanian Government is currently considering laws that the two national organisations say miss the mark when it comes to the need to protect children from harm and prohibit routine strip searches.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Victorian Government to amend proposed legislation currently before the Victorian Parliament to remove controversial powers to detain people based on what they might do.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on Premier Andrews to ensure greater police accountability following recent concerning incidents of police violence.
Read MoreThe Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not prosecute two police officers involved in the death of proud Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, despite the Coroner referring the police officers involved in her death for criminal investigation, saying she believed “an indictable offence may have been committed”.
Read MoreWith reports today of nearly 130 young people - some as young as 13 - being locked in their cells indefinitely due to the threat of COVID-19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on the Palaszczuk Government to reduce the number of children locked away in Queensland prisons rather than isolating and harming them.
Read MoreIn response to Premier Andrew’s declaration of a state of disaster in Victoria, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling for strong safeguards to ensure that police powers are exercised fairly and proportionately during the public health crisis.
Read MoreAboriginal-led, medical, legal and human rights organisations today condemned State and Territory lawmakers who failed at today’s Council of Attorneys-General meeting to commit to raise the age at which children can be locked away in a prison.
Read MoreNext week Australian lawmakers will have a historic opportunity at the Council of Attorneys-General Meeting on Monday 27 July to change laws that currently allow children as young as 10 to be arrested by police, charged with an offence, hauled before a court and locked away in a prison.
Read MoreWith COVID-19 entering a Victorian prison and youth detention centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are demanding the Andrews Government commit to safely reducing the number of people locked away in Victorian prisons.
Read MoreThe inquest into the death in custody of proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson began today with its first mention in the Coroners Court of Victoria. Veronica was 37 years old when she died.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the Federal Government's response to COVID-19 that human rights must be at the centre of the Government’s actions, both now and into the future.
Read MoreToday the Commonwealth Government is expected to release Closing the Gap justice targets to address the crisis of Aboriginal incarceration that would see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples waiting until 2093 to reach parity with non-Indigenous Australians.
Read MoreA coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, medical and human rights legal experts have today launched a campaign calling on all Australian governments to change laws that can lead to 10 year old kids being sent to prison.
Read MoreToday Western Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services released an alarming report on the use of routine restraints, such as handcuffs and leg shackles, on people in custody including pregnant women.
Read MoreWA police will no longer have the power to lock up people who cannot pay their fines with the passing of the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Amendment Bill 2019.
Read MoreToday Aboriginal and non-Indigenous legal, health and social justice organisations responded to Government claims that they were working on “ambitious” targets; and called for real and decisive action to end Blak deaths in custody.
Read MoreChange the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre have welcomed today’s High Court decision confirming that the use of tear gas on children in Don Dale in 2014 was unlawful.
Read MoreChange the Record calls on state, territory and Commonwealth governments to commit to end Aboriginal deaths in custody in the wake of George Floyd’s death in America - which followed two fatal police shootings here in Australia late last year.
Read MoreAn 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.
Read MoreWhile there are some promising developments in the Victorian Government's new Youth Justice Strategic Plan particularly the Strategy’s focus on early intervention, diversion, and restorative justice – the Strategy does not include a clear roadmap during the ten year period for keeping kids under 14 out of prison.
Read MoreIn an important decision, the Supreme Court of Victoria has found that the Victorian Government has prima facie breached their duty to take reasonable care for the health of a person behind bars during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreThe Fitzroy Legal Service and Human Rights Law Centre have filed a case in the Supreme Court of Victoria arguing that the Andrews Government must take steps to keep people in prison and the broader community safe from the risks posed by COVID-19.
Read MoreIn a landmark decision, the Coroner in the inquest into Tanya Day's death in police custody has referred Victoria Police officers to the Director of Public Prosecutions for criminal investigation, saying that she believes “an indictable offence may have been committed”.
Read MoreToday, the Coroner in the inquest into our mum’s death referred two police officers for criminal investigation. This isn’t the end of the road, but it is the beginning of justice for our mum. This is a historic day for Aboriginal people in this country, and a bitter-sweet day for our family.
Read MoreThe Coroner investigating the death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, will hand down her findings on 9 April 2020. The findings will be delivered via video link, five months after the coronial inquest concluded, and over two years since Tanya’s death.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling for strong safeguards as governments grant police new, sweeping powers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreIn order to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Australian Government and health experts have recommended that we use the most effective measure to help ‘flatten the curve’: social distancing. This is, however, impossible in our prisons.
Read MoreIn the midst of the public health emergency that is COVID-19, prisons must not be given a free pass to subject people to harmful and outdated practices like solitary confinement, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Royal Commision into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
Read MoreChief law-makers in Australia must promote the rights of children with a commitment to raise the age at which children can be locked up, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Working Group tasked to consider the age of legal responsibility.
Read MoreThis week all Australian Attorneys-General will have a historic opportunity to promote the rights of children with a commitment to raise the age at which children can be locked up.
Read MoreThe children of Tanya Day – Belinda, Warren, Apryl and Kimberly – have been awarded the Tim McCoy Award for their outstanding achievement in advocacy of human rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria.
Read MoreRight now, across Australia, Aboriginal people are being killed by police.
We’d like to send our condolences to Kumanjayi Walker’s family. Just this weekend, Kumanjayi, a young 19 year old Aboriginal man, was shot and killed by police in his home.
Read More“We know that our mum died in custody because police targeted her for being drunk in public and then failed to properly care for her after they locked her up. We know that racism was a cause of our mum’s death. Both individual police officers and Victoria Police as a whole must be held to account. Without accountability, more Aboriginal people will die in custody.”
Read MoreShocking stories of police brutally show the need for immediate action by the Andrews Government to provide Victoria’s police corruption watchdog (IBAC) the power and tools it needs to independently investigate serious police misconduct, so that police are not investigating their own.
Read MoreA 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".
Read MorePress Conference: The family of Tanya Day will read a statement and take questions from the media at 3:45pm today in Melbourne.
Read MoreSolitary confinement is an archaic way of treating people and is now known to inflict long term and irreversible harm. Today, in a damning report, the Victorian Ombudsman has called on the Andrews Government to prohibit in law the use of solitary confinement.
Read MoreNewly obtained data shows that in one month, 403 strip searches were conducted on children at two youth prisons in NSW. Only one item – a ping pong ball – was found as a result of these strip searches.
Read MoreThe Queensland Government’s decision to move kids out of police watch houses “as soon as humanly possible” is welcomed, but the Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Government to publicly commit to a long-term solution so that no child is warehoused in a police watch house again.
Read MorePeople experiencing mental illness are being criminalised rather than supported in the community, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
Read MoreThe UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture announced they will visit Australia to shine a light on abuses in places of detention, including adult prisons, youth prisons, police lock-ups and immigration detention facilities.
Read MoreTonight’s Four Corners investigation, Inside the Watch House, raises serious questions about whether the Queensland Government is breaching its own laws by warehousing children in police cells designed for adults.
Read MorePeople in prison in Western Australia were subjected to close to 1 million strip searches over the past 5 years, a shocking report by the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services has found.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre will today provide a submission to a Northern Territory Parliamentary Committee supporting landmark reforms to youth justice laws, however arguing that the Government should follow through with its promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreAboriginal and human rights organisations today welcomed the Australian Medical Association’s call for all states and territories to raise the age when children can be held criminally responsible to at least 14 years.
Read MoreThe second directions hearing in the coronial inquest into Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day’s death in police custody will commence today.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court today overturned the sentence of a 12 year old Aboriginal boy caught up by Western Australia’s draconian mandatory sentencing laws.
Read MoreIn response to tonight’s Four Corners episode, Criminalising women, legal and human rights organisations are calling on the Andrews Government to drastically cut the number of women being criminalised and imprisoned in Victoria.
Read MoreShocking stories of police brutality, misconduct and malicious prosecution revealed over the past 48 hours show the need for immediate action to hold Victoria police to account.
Read MoreLawyers, advocates and victims of police abuse are again calling on the Andrews Government to take action and introduce an independent body to investigate police misconduct, as horrific new cases of police brutality come to light.
Read MoreWestern Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services today released a damning report into the circumstances surrounding a young Aboriginal woman who gave birth alone in a prison cell.
Read MoreThe Australian Bureau of Statistics released data last week that shows governments across Australia are now forcing more than 3,600 women into prisons. This marks an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year - more than double the rate of men’s, which increased by four per cent.
Read MoreLawyers and advocates from across Victoria have welcomed the Andrews Government announcement of a Royal Commission into police misconduct, but say the Andrews Government should immediately establish an independent Police Corruption & Misconduct Division within IBAC.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should not be allowed to pick and choose what detention facilities can be scrutinised under the UN anti-torture treaty, the Human Rights Law Centre said in a submission to the Human Rights Commission.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government has pushed divisive anti-association laws through the lower house of Parliament today. The laws will give police excessive powers to issue ‘anti-association notices’, telling people – including children as young as 14 – who they can and can’t be friends with or spend time with.
Read MoreAustralian governments must put in place life-saving Custody Notification Services in every state and territory to address one of the most significant human rights issues in Australia – the preventable deaths in custody of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Read MoreHuman rights lawyers are calling on WA Corrective Services Minister, Francis Logan, to categorically prohibit solitary confinement for children, in the wake of a report by the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services into alleged ill-treatment at the notorious Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre.
Read MoreThis week marks the two year anniversary since the horrific images of child abuse in Don Dale youth prison were beamed across the nation, leading to the Northern Territory Royal Commission.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has been urged to improve its track record on women’s rights overnight by an expert UN Committee on women’s rights.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women made its criticism after a robust review earlier this month to assess Australia’s progress on ending discrimination against women.
Read MoreThe Victorian Government will today introduce chilling new laws to restrict the ability of Victorians to freely spend time together.
Read MoreAustralian governments should end the routine strip searching of women in prison the Human Rights Law Centre has told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory Supreme Court has today held that the now repealed Alcohol Protection Order (APO) regime was valid and not in breach of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act.
Read MoreChildren in the Northern Territory will be better protected from Don Dale-like abuse behind bars with the Gunner Government today passing landmark laws that will prohibit harm to children. The laws will solidify key recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
Read MoreAfter a week of intense negotiations, the Western Australian Government has avoided urgent Supreme Court action by allowing a newborn Aboriginal baby to remain with her mother.
Read MoreStatistics released this week reveal the Gunner Government is sending more men and women to prison than ever before – a direct result of Chief Minister Gunner’s failure to repeal mandatory sentencing laws.
Read MoreA report released by the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services has detailed horrific conditions and treatment in Western Australia’s only youth jail, Banksia Hill. The Inspector has called on the McGowan Government to take urgent action.
Read MoreA damning Victorian Parliamentary report into youth justice released yesterday shows the Andrews Government is harming children in its care by forcing them into solitary confinement.Ruth Barson, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said that starving a child of human contact is one of the most damaging things we can do and the Government should prohibit it outright.
Read MoreOne day after the Northern Territory Government gave an in principle promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released data painting a diabolical picture of punitive and out-of-date youth justice systems across Australia.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory today became the first government to commit to raising the age at which children can be charged and sent to prison.
Read MoreThe closure of the NT's notorious Don Dale youth prison couldn’t come soon enough, but the Turnbull Government needs to help fund the creation of safe, home-like facilities built for children to replace it.
Read MoreThe Federal Government has completely failed to lead in its response to the Northern Territory Royal Commission’s report on how to fix failing youth justice and child protection systems.Shahleena Musk, a Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the Federal Government was trying to wash its hands of responsibility at the very time it needed to show leadership to fix broken youth justice systems across Australia.
Read MoreAustralian Governments must prohibit the solitary confinement of children in detention and closely regulate practices that can result in the forced isolation or segregation of a child. So what is solitary confinement?
Read MoreThe Australian Government has ratified an important UN torture prevention treaty. The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) is a mechanism established to prevent cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in places of detention.
Read MoreWomen in Victorian prisons are being regularly and routinely subjected to degrading strip-searches and the Government should end the practice. Speaking at the launch of a new report, the HRLC's Ruth Barson said being forced to remove every last item of clothing again and again, strips women of dignity and of hope.
Read MoreThe Victorian Ombudsman has released a critical report highlighting ‘humiliating, degrading and undignified’ strip search practices in a Victorian women’s prison. The report shows Victoria is breaching human rights standards by subjecting women to routine strip searches, extended solitary confinement and excessive use of restraints.
Read MoreFollowing Universal Children’s Day, doctors, lawyers, health and human rights experts from across Australia are calling for the age when children can be held criminally liable to be raised to at least 14 years so that primary school aged children are not entangled in the criminal justice system.
Read More“The Royal Commission laid bare the devastating cost of removing children from their families and locking them away behind bars. Prisons fail children," said Shahleena Musk.
Read MoreAustralia was condemned overnight by a UN Human Rights Committee for its human rights record on a range of issues including refugees, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights, youth justice and democratic freedoms.
Read MoreAdrianne Walters, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said that state and territory criminal justice systems are out of balance and that governments around Australia have a responsibility to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to stem the number of people being sent to prison.
Read MoreMore examples of the serious mistreatment and harm to children in Australian youth detention centres have been detailed in damning reports from Western Australia’s independent Inspector of Custodial Services and Queensland’s Youth Detention Inspectorate.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory Government has been ineffective in its response to child offending and is failing to make communities safer, the Human Rights Law Centre told the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
Read MoreHugh de Kretser, Executive Director with the Human Rights Law Centre told the Parliamentary Inquiry into Youth Justice Centres in Victoria that the Victorian Government has an opportunity to rebuild a safe, humane, age-appropriate youth justice system.
Read MoreThe over-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is a growing national crisis that is being overlooked by all levels of government in Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and Change the Record said in a new report. HRLC's Adrianne Walters said, “The tragic and preventable death of Ms Dhu is a devastating example of what happens when the justice system fails Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
Read MoreThe Victorian Supreme Court this morning ruled that detaining children at the Barwon maximum security adult prison was unlawful and prohibited the Victorian Government from continuing to detain children there.
Read MoreThe Victorian Supreme Court will decide tomorrow whether the Victorian Government breached the law in moving children to the maximum security adult prison at Barwon. Human Rights Law Centre lawyers to hold a doorstop press conference shortly after the court session has concluded.
Read MoreOver 80 recommendations have been made to bring the Queensland youth justice system in line with international law and to respond to the individual developmental needs of each child. the review reminds us that just because a child is incarcerated, their human rights and entitlements must not be ignored.
Read MoreThe Victorian Government told the Supreme Court last December that its sole justification for locking kids up in a maximum security adult prison was the lack of capacity due to the damage at Parkville. Yet now the Government has admitted that even when those 60 beds are fully repaired next month, it’s going to continue to keep kids at Barwon until August or September.
Read MoreMEDIA ALERT: DOOR STOP PRESS CONFERENCE
9:15am Monday 3 April 2017
On the steps of the Victorian Supreme Court, 210 William St, Melbourne
with the Human Rights Law Centre’s Executive Director Hugh de Kretser
Tomorrow the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory will release its interim report into systemic abuses and mistreatment of children in youth prisons.
Read MoreOn 30 March 2017, the Herald Sun published a story about our Supreme Court challenge against the Victorian Government to stop the use of Barwon prison to detain children. The story includes a letter written by one of our clients.
Read MoreThe Commission for Children and Young People released a scathing report, The Same Four Walls, detailing widespread isolation of children in Victoria’s youth justice centres. "You can’t respond to inadequate staffing levels by just leaving kids locked up in the cells for hours on end. It’s time for the Victorian Government to stop taking short cuts and to start properly resourcing the youth justice system," the HRLC's Alina Leikin.
Read MoreThe Victorian Government must address the underlying causes of damaging incidents in youth justice centres including staffing and lockdowns, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry
Read MoreLess then a month before the Supreme Court hears the third legal challenge to the Victorian Government's decision to detain children at the Barwon maximum security adult prison, lawyers are concerned that the use of extreme practices appears to be increasing.
Read More“All the data shows that these laws are being overwhelmingly used against Aboriginal people. Twenty-six years ago the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made clear that locking someone up should only ever be a last resort and that police should be required to consider safer options,” said HRLC's Adrianne Walters.
Read MoreDisturbing details have emerged about the incident on Monday night at the Barwon maximum security adult prison where the Victorian Government is currently detaining around 21 boys aged between 15 and 18 years old.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre welcomes Commonwealth Attorney-General George Brandis' announcement today that Australia would ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other mistreatment (OPCAT) by the end of the year.
Read MoreA new Supreme Court case has been launched against the Victorian Government by the Human Rights Law Centre to stop the use of Barwon prison to detain children.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is deeply concerned about today’s announcement that the Victorian Government will move the management of the youth justice system in Victoria to the department that manages adult prisons.
Read MoreTonight’s ABC 7.30 episode detailing the serious assault on a 16-year old boy is further evidence that the Victorian Government must immediately act to remove children from Victoria’s most notorious adult jail. The boy suffered a fractured vertebrae and serious injuries to his face and head after being assaulted by fellow inmates on Monday.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is deeply disturbed about an incident at the Barwon jail yesterday resulting in serious injuries to a 16 year old boy and the reported use of capsicum spray on others. The injured boy was hospitalised overnight after being assaulted by other boys and is now being moved to Malmsbury youth justice facility.
Read MoreOn 17 November 2016, the Victorian Government decided to use the Grevillea Unit in the Barwon maximum security adult prison as a youth jail and started sending children as young as 15 there. This article explains why children do not belong in adult jails.
Read MoreThe Government’s decision to regazette Barwon adult jail as a youth justice facility is an act of utter bad faith, say human rights lawyers.
Only yesterday the Victorian Court of Appeal upheld the Supreme Court’s decision that the Victorian Government acted unlawfully in gazetting Barwon adult prison as a youth justice facility.
Read MoreThe Victorian Court of Appeal today unanimously confirmed that the Victorian Government acted unlawfully in transferring children to the Barwon adult jail. The Court was hearing an appeal against last week's Supreme Court ruling.
Hugh de Kretser, Executive Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said, “Jailing children in the state’s most notorious adult prison was a terrible mistake. The government needs to house these children in a safe, lawful and appropriate facility.”
The Victorian Court of Appeal will tomorrow hear the appeal against last week’s Supreme Court ruling that the Victorian Government acted unlawfully in transferring children to the Barwon adult jail. The Court of Appeal is expected to make its decision on the appeal at the end of tomorrow’s hearing.
Read MoreIn a landmark case, the Supreme Court held that the Victorian Government’s decision to transfer children to Barwon maximum security adult jail was unlawful. The Court also found that the Government failed to properly consider the Victorian Charter of Human Rights.
Read MoreMEDIA ALERT
Date: Wednesday 21 December 2016
Time: 1.00pm
Location: On the steps of the Victorian Supreme Court, 210 William St, Melbourne
The tragic death of Ms Dhu could have been prevented, said the Western Australian State Coroner today. The Coroner found that many of the police officers entrusted with her care acted unprofessionally and treated Ms Dhu inhumanely.
Read MoreMEDIA ALERT
Time: 8:45AM (AWST)
Date: Friday 16 December
Where: Steps of the Perth Central Law Courts, 501 Hay St, Perth WA 6000
The Western Australian State Coroner will hand down her findings in the inquest into Ms Dhu’s death in custody this Friday. She will also decide on whether to release harrowing footage showing Ms Dhu’s final hours.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court will today commence hearing the case against the Victorian Government to ensure no child is sent to Barwon maximum security adult jail. The Human Rights Law Centre and Fitzroy Legal Service are bringing the case after the government two weeks ago agreed not to transfer any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children to the prison.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s broad police protective custody powers will be scrutinized tomorrow in the High Court in a challenge brought by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) and the Human Rights Law Centre on behalf of Aboriginal man, Anthony Prior.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court will tomorrow begin hearing the case against the Victorian Government to ensure no child is sent to Barwon maximum security adult jail.
Read MoreA new Supreme Court case has been launched against the Victorian Government to ensure no child is held in the Barwon maximum security adult prison.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government has today taken the extraordinary step and agreed not to transfer any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children to Barwon maximum security adult prison.
Read MoreFURTHER DETAILS: As part of the last minute back down, the Victorian Government has committed not to transfer any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child to an adult jail. The only extremely limited possibility for transfers is in exceptional circumstances and, even then, only on the advice of the Aboriginal Children’s Commissioner that the transfer is in the best interests of that child.
Read MoreLawyers who visited children held at Barwon maximum security adult prison yesterday say that the conditions are cruel and intolerable.
Read MoreThe Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) has filed a case in the Victorian Supreme Court challenging the lawfulness of the Government’s decision to send Aboriginal children as young as 16 years to Barwon maximum security adult prison.
Read MoreLawyers and advocates were today told that transfers of children from youth detention facilities to Victoria’s maximum-security adult prison are imminent.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s harsh police protective custody powers will come under scrutiny after the High Court agreed to hear a legal challenge brought by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) on behalf of Mr Anthony Prior.
Read More
The Commonwealth Government should ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), and all states and territories should increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Federal Children’s Commissioner.
Read MoreWestern Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services released a damning report on Friday showing that Western Australia’s policy of locking people up for unpaid fines disproportionately impacts vulnerable Aboriginal women.
The Human Rights Law Centre’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said that the Inspector’s report is another reminder that Western Australia’s policy of locking people up for unpaid fines is unfair and out of date.
Read MoreOn the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Western Australian Government is being urged to adopt justice targets to address the State’s appalling rates of Aboriginal peoples’ over-imprisonment.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) today sought permission from the High Court to appeal a Northern Territory decision concerning police powers of ‘protective custody’.
Read MoreWith the coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody recommencing on Monday, family members and human rights lawyers are urging the Western Australian Government to urgently scrap the practice of locking people up for unpaid fines.
Read MoreIf we do not take a drastically different approach, the trajectory of our Corrections system seems as negative and inevitable as the lives of those disadvantaged and victimised individuals it houses, writes the Centre for Innovative Justice's Rob Hulls.
Read MoreThe coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody has heard that Ms Dhu was in a violent relationship with her partner, Dion Ruffin, at the time of her arrest. Mr Ruffin was taken into custody together with Ms Dhu and was known to police as someone with a violent criminal history.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s youth justice system needs a thorough overhaul in light of fresh allegations of mistreatment emerging after the resignation of the Northern Territory’s Corrections Commissioner, Mr Ken Middlebrook.
Read MoreAustralia’s treatment of prisoners falls short of new international standards adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last week.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has sent an urgent request to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to investigate the mistreatment of young people (under 18 years) in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, the Northern Territory’s main youth justice facility.
Read MoreThe latest Australian prison statistics released yesterday show the crisis of Indigenous imprisonment in Australia is getting worse.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s youth justice practices risk breaching international human rights law by failing to prioritise the best interests of young people.
Read MoreThe 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. Today, the Human Rights Law Centre has joined with other leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, community and human rights organisations to launch a ground-breaking blueprint for reversing the tide by focusing on building communities instead of prisons, and developing smarter criminal justice solutions.
Read More‘How did it come to this?’ asks the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Professor Gillian Triggs about Australia rejecting fundamental human rights along with the international monitoring processes designed to give them effect.
Read MoreAt the most recent United Nations Human Rights Council in March, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture tabled a report outlining the current international benchmarks expected of countries when it comes to detaining children in criminal and civil contexts. The HRLC’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said the report is a reminder that Australia needs to change its youth justice policies in order to meet international standards.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreAustralia’s counter-terrorism and migration laws unnecessarily and disproportionately interfere with fundamental rights and freedoms and ought to be repealed, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) inquiry into “Traditional Rights and Freedoms”.
Read MoreAlmost six months since Julieka Dhu’s tragic death in police custody, her family still have no answers as to how she died.
Read MoreFigures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month show a 10 percent jump in the number of people in Australian prisons, bringing the prison population to a 10 year high.
Read MoreAustralia is in breach of its human rights obligations by allowing children to be sentenced to life in prison without the genuine possibility of parole, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared.
Read MoreSeventy seven organisations have united to warn that Australia’s standards are sliding when it comes to the prevention of torture and cruel treatment.
Read MoreThe United Nation’s Human Rights Council – the world’s peak human rights body – has been alerted to Australia’s rapidly increasing imprisonment rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Read MoreThe Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures last week showing that Australia now imprisons 18 per cent more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women than it did 12 months ago.
Read MoreNew laws to oversee the Northern Territory's prison system will not address the endemic over-imprisonment of Aboriginal people and fail to respect basic rights, warns the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreA new report highlights various ways in which Australia's co-operation with Sri Lanka’s military puts asylum seekers at risk. The report includes a DFAT cable obtained under Freedom of Information laws that reveals the Australia Federal Police declined to interview a man claiming to have been severely tortured after being sent back to Sri Lanka by Australia.
Read MoreA damning report into the operation of Victoria’s corrections system has identified the mistreatment of young people in detention and again highlighted the need for a fully independent prison watchdog. The Victorian Ombudsman’s report follows an investigation into the mistaken transfer of five children into the adult prison system.
Read MoreRegardless of your political allegiances, we hope you can take a moment to appreciate the fundamental democratic freedoms we enjoy in Australia and join us in working to protect and strengthen them even further.
Read MoreFormer High Court Judge Ian Callinan’s Review of the Parole System in Victoria recommends that the Victorian Parole Board remain exempt from procedural fairness and human rights protections under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
Read MoreA damning report into the operation of Western Australia’s youth corrections system has identified systemic failures and regular mistreatment of young people in detention. Ben Schokman, a lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the youth justice system is entirely failing Western Australia’s young people.
Read MoreA Queensland jail worker at the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre has been granted bail after facing charges for a number of offences, including raping inmates, attempted sexual assaults and attempting to procure a sexual act by intimidation.
Read MoreRemoving the Adult Parole Board’s exemption from Victoria’s Human Rights Charter would strengthen community safety and reduce the risk of mistakes like the failure to cancel Adrian Bayley’s parole.
Read MoreA range of proposed reforms to the youth justice system currently being considered by the Queensland Government would be harmful, ineffective and raise serious human rights concerns, according to the HRLC.
Read MoreA justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia would provide a valuable framework to prevent crime and promote community safety, reduce imprisonment rates and deliver associated social and economic benefits for the broad community, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreDPP v Leys & Leys [2012] VSCA 304 (12 December 2012)
On 16 January 2012, community correction orders (CCO) were introduced as a sentencing option under the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic). CCOs replaced a number of separate sentencing orders such as intensive correction orders and community-based orders.
Read MoreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued new guidelines relating to the detention of asylum seekers. An overarching theme of the ten guidelines is that the detention of asylum seekers is an exceptional measure of last resort which can only be applied where it pursues a legitimate purpose and has been determined to be both necessary and proportionate in each individual case.
Read MoreThe Australian Capital Territory will become the first Australian jurisdiction to trial a needle and syringe program in prison – a principled, evidence-based, human rights-compliant response to a major public health issue. Research shows that prisons are a “hot bed” for blood borne virus transmission.
Read MoreA Victorian prisoner is preparing proceedings against the State Government alleging that it has failed to protect him from exposure to hepatitis C during his time in jail. Prisons have been described as a ''hot bed'' for blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C, with more than 40 percent of Victorian prisoners carrying the virus. Coupled with the prevalence of intravenous drug use in Victorian prisons, a failure to provide clean needles and syringes may amount to a breach of the state's common law duty of care and obligations under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
Read MoreA bipartisan parliamentary committee has unanimously recommended that the Federal Government take immediate action to improve monitoring and accountability, and prevent ill-treatment, in places of detention. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) has recommended that Australia ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture as a matter of priority.
Read MoreAustralia’s immigration minister should raise concerns with Sri Lankan officials about alleged arbitrary arrest and torture of people who were refused asylum and sent back to Sri Lanka when he visits this week, the Human Rights Law Centre and Human Rights Watch said today. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from 2 to 4 May 2012, to discuss migration issues, including preventing people smuggling from Sri Lanka to Australia.
Read MoreThe NSW Government has responded to the recommendations of Deputy State Coroner MacMahon in the inquest into the death of Mark Holcroft in 2009. Mr Holcroft died after he suffered a heart attack in a prison van travelling from Bathurst Correctional Centre to Mannus Correctional Centre. The Coroner made eight significant recommendations regarding humane treatment of prisoners when being transported in prison vans over long distances.
Read MoreThe April 2012 Ombudsman’s report into the death of Carl Williams at Barwon Prison highlighted a number of systemic failings inVictoria’s prison system. Among these failings, the Ombudsman was highly critical of the lack of independent monitoring or oversight ofVictoria’s prisons.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has consistently maintained that Australian military personnel had no involvement in the detention of captives in Iraq. However, documents obtained by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) make it clear that Australia was deeply entangled in the capture and detention of Iraqis.
Read MoreAustralia has moved a step closer to ensuring independent monitoring, inspection and oversight of places of detention. The Commonwealth Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, and the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Craig Emerson, today tabled a National Interest Analysis on Australia's ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
Read MoreAustralia’s human rights record was scrutinised by the UN Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review Process in January 2011. During that review, a significant number of countries asked questions and made recommendations about Australia’s immigration policies and the practice of mandatory detention.
Read MoreIn December 2010, the UN Committee against Torture issued a ‘List of Issues Prior to Reporting’ for Australia. The purpose of this List is to outline those issues which the Committee would like Australia to address and respond to in its next periodic report to the Committee, due in 2012.
Read MoreOn 3 June 2010, the UN Special Rapportuer on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Anand Grover, released his final report following a mission to Australia in November and December 2009. The report focuses on the standard of living and quality of health care and health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people in prison and immigration detainees.
Read MoreOn 15 December 2009, the Victorian Government passed new Regulations that declare the Adult Parole Board, the Youth Residential Board, and the Youth Parole Board (the Parole Boards) not to be "public authorities" for the purposes of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities (the Victorian Charter).
Read MoreThe UN Committee Against Torture has issued its Concluding Observations on Australia following a review of Australia’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment at its 40th Session in Geneva in May 2008. The Human Rights Law Resource Centre prepared a major Report on Australia's Compliance with the Convention against Torture (April 2008) [PDF] to assist the Committee to constructively review and make recommendations regarding Australia.
Read MoreOn 6 February 2008, the Centre’s Director, Phil Lynch, gave evidence as an expert witness in support of a Freedom of Information application for access to a report prepared by the Corrections Inspectorate regarding separation orders and high security and management units in Victorian prisons. The matter is being heard in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with the applicant, Western Suburbs Legal Service, being represented by Corrs Chambers Westgarth on a pro bono basis.
Read MoreIn conjunction with Brian Walters SC, Neil McAteer of Counsel and Allens Arthur Robinson, the Centre prepared a Note on the Relevance of International Human Rights to Control Order Conditions in the case of David Hicks. The Note was used by Counsel for Mr Hicks in submissions to the Federal Magistrates' Court on 18 February 2008, which resulted in an easing of the conditions and restrictions imposed on Mr Hicks.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should urgently reconsider key aspects of its counter-terrorism laws to bring them into conformity with international human rights standards, a UN report on human rights and counter-terrorism in Australia which was tabled before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 26 March 2007 has found.
Read MoreIn November 2006, a group of eminent Australian lawyers prepared an Opinion about the continued detention of David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay and his proposed trial by a Military Commission. The Opinion has potentially alarming implications for the Federal Government and its Ministers.
Read MoreOn 19 October 2006, in conjunction with Victoria Legal Aid and Chris Boyce of Counsel, the Centre made submissions to the Victorian Court of Appeal in an appeal against sentence. The submissions pertained to the relevance of international human rights standards to the sentencing of a person with a mental illnedd. MDJ was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. In 2005, he was convicted on four counts of armed robbery, assault and kidnapping. In his decision, the sentencing judge, Chettle J, readily acknowledged the extent of the appellant's mental illness, finding a nexus between his mental condition and the commission of the offences. Nevertheless, MDJ was sentenced to an extended prison term of 6 years and 9 months, with a non-parole period of 4 years.
Read MoreOn 3 August 2006, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre wrote to various UN Special Rapporteurs in relation to the situation of Mr Amer Haddara, Mr Shane Kent, Mr Izzydeen Attik, Mr Fadal Sayadi, Mr Abdullah Merhi, Mr Ahmed Raad, Mr Ezzit Raad, Mr Hany Taha, Mr Aimen Joud, Mr Shoue Hammoud, Mr Majed Raad, Mr Bassam Raad and Mr Abdul Nacer Benbrika (collectively, ‘the Detainees’). The Detainees have been held as unconvicted remand prisoners in the maximum security Acacia Unit of Barwon Prison in Victoria since November 2005 in the case of nine Detainees and since March 2006 in the case of the remaining three Detainees.
The HRLRC is gravely concerned that the type, length, conditions and effects of the Detainees’ detention amount to serious ongoing human rights violations
Read MoreOn 3 July 2006, the HRLRC filed an affidavit and submissions in support of an application for leave to appear as amicus curiae in the Victorian Court of Appeal in case of Joseph Thomas v The Queen.
Read More
