Access to abortion is a matter of life and health for all people who experience pregnancy.
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The dire warnings from some about Victoria’s proposed new pandemic laws are mostly wrong or overblown. There are important areas where the bill needs fixing but overall, it’s a big improvement on the current laws.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is a global human rights crisis which has caused widespread illness and millions of deaths and prompted often severe restrictions from governments to protect public health.
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Achieving human rights progress can be hard. It can take years and sometimes decades of advocacy, campaigning, strategy, suffering and sacrifice. Sometimes all that effort comes to nothing. Sometimes things go backwards despite our best efforts. Sometimes change happens, but the pace is far too slow.
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For decades, women seeking abortion care in Australia have been targeted by anti-abortionists as they tried to walk to their doctor’s front door.
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Victoria’s bail laws are broken and need to be fixed.
As the world marks International Women’s Day, which this year aims to challenge gender inequality, it is fitting to call out Victoria’s broken bail laws and the discriminatory impact they are having on women in our prison system.
Read MoreIt’s easy for many of us living in a country like Australia to take our human rights for granted. For most of us, most of the time, Australia is a great place to live.
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Social security is a vital safety net that most people in Australia will turn to at some point in their lives. In this context, the 2019 federal election offered two very different futures for remote communities in the Northern Territory.
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This report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (the CERD Committee) examines Australia’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
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To achieve the Close the Gap measures, the federal and territory governments need to engage in genuine dialogue with Aboriginal people. The chronic crisis of overcrowding can only be addressed through a collaborative approach, with a view to ultimately giving control back to Aboriginal communities.
Read MoreWhile the nation's eyes have been on federal parliament bickering over the marriage equality plebiscite this week, another critical LGBTI debate began in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
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Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull's announcement of a royal commission into the abuse of children in Northern Territory jails gives an insight into his instincts on human rights.
Read MoreWe shouldn't underestimate the human toll of the 'homosexual conduct' laws. William Leonard from Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and HRLC's Anna Brown explain how the Victorian Government's State Apology is also about publicly acknowledging and valuing the diversity of sexual expression.
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The HRLC’s Anna Brown contributed an essay on progress on the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the Oceania region to ILGA's 10th edition of its State-Sponsored Homophobia Report.
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Australia recently argued before the Committee Against Torture that violence against women does not fall within the Committee’s mandate. Australia was unequivocally wrong to do so – both legally and ethically, writes the HRLC's Ruth Barson
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In 1977, long time gay rights activist Jamie Gardiner wrote a brief seeking expungement of homosexual convictions. Last week, he sat in Victoria’s parliament and watched it happen. Here he reflects on his decades long journey from campaigning for the decriminalization of homosexuality in the 1970’s to the challenges that reamin today.
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The HRLC’s Anna Brown reports on her recent advocacy work in Geneva and the passage of the crucially important resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity by the UN Human Rights Council.
Read MoreSue Hackney reflects on the journey to the landmark anti-discrimination decision in Victoria thanks to a group of same-sex attracted young people who took issue with a religious group's refusal to allow them to use a camp site.
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Appeals to freedom are essentially calls to prioritise a right to discriminate over fair and equal access to employment, education and services, writes Rachel Ball.
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The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, asks whether scrapping section 18C of the RDA will unleash a wave of humiliation of the vulnerable.
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The HRLC's Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, outlines his human rights priorities and the challenges that lie ahead in 2014.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has produced a report on the need for legislation to erase the criminal records of homosexual men who were convicted for having consensual sex in the past when it was illegal.
Read MoreCommonwealth Attorney-General George Brandis's reform of Australia's racial vilification laws needs to tread carefully writes HRLC's Hugh de Kretser.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has produced a series of fact sheets that outline human rights obligations relevant to domestic violence.
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What has been lost in the current debate about the Government's draft Anti-Discrimination Bill are the numerous benefits of the proposed law, writes the HRLC's Anna Brown.
Read MoreHRLC equality law expert Rachel Ball joins with investment banker and business leader Simon McKeon AO in analysing the government's proposed Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012.
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Kwementyaye Briscoe died at the Alice Springs watch house in January 2012 after being detained for drunkenness. The coroner found that, while in custody, Mr Briscoe was denied basic and necessary medical treatment, dragged and treated with “undue vigour”. Another young Aboriginal man died in the same watch house in 2009.
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There is much to admire in Tony Abbott’s recent speech on the right to freedom of expression given to the Institute of Public Affairs. He is right to affirm, for example, that freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy, echoing the words of the UN Human Rights Committee, which has described the rights to freedom of opinion and expression as “the foundation stone for every free and democratic society”.
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A society free from domestic and family violence is possible, but it will take effort from the whole community to achieve. First, we need to reject the myth that family violence is a private problem that only exists within the four walls of the home.
Read MoreAmidst mounting international pressure over Australia’s human rights record, the HRLC’s Phil Lynch and Ben Schokman examine the recent commitments made by the Government at the UN.
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Retired judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, discusses society’s deep-seated desire for justice and equality.
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The 100th year of International Women’s Day is an important occasion to celebrate and acknowledge the considerable achievements of women and men in advancing gender equality in Australia, write Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.
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The Gillard Government is consolidating federal anti-discrimination laws into a single Equality Act. The process has been promoted as an exercise in addressing inconsistencies and reducing regulation. The Government should show that it is serious about achieving equality by ensuring that the draft Bill, due to be released later this year, also strengthens and modernises our laws, writes the HRLC's Rachel Ball.
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Proposed amendments to Victoria's equal opportunity laws will perpetuate discrimination and undermine fairness and equality, writes Rachel Ball
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The reality, according to a 2009 VicHealth survey, is that nearly one in 10 of us do not believe that people of all races are equal or that inter-racial marriage should be supported. In the same survey, 37 per cent of respondents felt Australia was weakened by people of different ethnic origins ''sticking to their old ways''.
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Emily Howie, director (advocacy and strategic litigation) at the Human Rights Law Centre, argues that Australia must stop denying it has a racism problem.
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Rachel Ball, lawyer at the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, argues that laws are the key to ending gender discrimination on boards.
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What’s the difference between a travel company for women and a private club for men? It’s not a joke, but the answer may make you laugh. In Victoria, a travel company that excludes men constitutes unacceptable discrimination. A club that excludes women is fine.
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Last year a group which aims to raise awareness about the needs of same sex attracted young people planned a weekend forum. Their request to book facilities was refused by an organisation affiliated with a Christian association on the basis that they were unable to accommodate ‘a group such as yours’. This event should not be surprising; it is lawful in Victoria to discriminate on the basis of sexuality, disability, marital status, race, sex and other attributes as long as the discrimination conforms to religious doctrines or is necessary to avoid injury to religious sensitivities.
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It is often the case that discussions about racism are heated and controversial; the recent Durban Review Conference and my participation in it was no exception. In reflecting on this Conference, I would like to convey some important context for my attendance as Race Discrimination Commissioner and highlight some of the key outcomes.
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