It’s 2018 and women’s voices are still ridiculed, disregarded, dismissed and put down. But there’s no doubting that our voices are out there, loud and clear and they are increasingly more difficult to ignore. Our voices are out there and this is a good thing. But not all women’s voices are heard.
Read MoreThe UN Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. On 3 July, Australia was examined by the Committee about whether it is complying with its obligations. The Human Rights Law Centre presented an overview of the gaps in protections for women and girls to the Committee.
Read MoreOn Friday, the people of Ireland will vote on whether a divisive constitutional ban on abortion should end. Ireland's abortion laws are some of the most harsh and archaic in the world – only since 2013 have abortions to save a woman's life been legal.
Read MoreMost Australians probably think that now we have marriage equality, LGBTI people's rights are fully respected. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Read MoreFor me and millions of other mums around Australia, today will be a special day. I'll wake to some slightly burnt toast, some slightly cold tea, a jar of jam from the school stall and probably a couple of earnest home-made Mother's Day cards, delivered to me in bed with a smile from my two beautiful boys.
Read MoreRana Plaza is often described as the garment industry’s “worst industrial accident”, but the industry practices that led to it were far from accidental writes Keren Adams.
Read MoreWe need to rethink a system that is funnelling people into harmful prisons as the default response, writes Shahleena Musk.
Read MoreAcross Australia the age of criminal responsibility is set at 10 years. The age of criminal responsibility is the age a child is considered capable of understanding they have done something wrong and can be dealt with in the criminal justice system. All Australian Governments should raise the age of criminal responsibility because it is the right thing to do, because it is evidence-based, and because the recommendations of the NT Royal Commission present a rare opportunity to embrace this change.
Read MoreIn December 2017, the Government introduced the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill into Parliament. The Bill imposes financial controls and compliance measures on organisations and individuals in Australia that incur expenditure to contribute to public debate on policy or government issues.
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 MoreHow we treat people in prison matters not just because most will be released back into the community, but because we are all diminished the moment we start picking and choosing who is deserving of dignity, writes Ruth Barson.
Read MoreIt was not Bob Brown’s first arrest, but it’s probably the one he’ll remember best.
Read MoreEach year thousands of strip searches are conducted on women in Victoria’s prisons. Strip searches are invasive, humiliating and, in many cases, re-traumatising. They require women to strip naked in front of two prison officers. The Human Rights Law Centre reviewed six months of recent Victorian strip search register entries obtained through freedom of information laws from the two women’s prisons in Victoria.
Read MoreIt's 2017 and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are again fighting against the systemic denial of fair pay for work. When people talk about stolen wages — the slavery-like system that saw Aboriginal people denied any or equal pay for hard work over decades — they typically speak of the past. But the pervasive and poisonous tentacles of systemic racism in Australia are very much of the present.
Read MoreAustralians said YES. The 61.6% YES margin revealed on 15 November 2017 was bigger than any federal election winner’s 2PP vote. This emphatic success is a cause for great celebration—but what happens next? What does it mean?
Read MoreThe debate on the consensus cross-party bill has resumed in the Senate. It is very clear that across the parliament our representatives have heard the overwhelming mandate delivered by the postal survey loudly and clearly.
Read MoreThis 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).
Read MoreIn August 2017, Senator Dean Smith publicly released the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017. Find out what the Bill means for marriage equality in Australia.
Read MoreHow children could be left to languish in solitary confinement; how the abuses in Don Dale went unchecked for so long before journalists and advocates exposed a system rotten to its core.This Friday Australia will be provided with answers.
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