The Human Rights Law Centre is supporting the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) in their intervention in the coronial inquest into the police-shooting death of Warlpiri and Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker. The Human Rights Law Centre is assisting NAAJA to highlight systemic injustices experienced by Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, including systemic racism in policing.
Read MoreChildren do not belong behind bars. Yet across Australia, children as young as 10 can be charged by police and locked up in prison. Due to systemic injustice, this is disproportionately impacting Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children. The Human Rights Law Centre is a founding member of the #RaisetheAge campaign which seeks to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old Australia wide.
Read MoreThe Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, the Human Rights Law Centre and proud Wakka Wakka man Dennis brought a legal challenge in the Federal Court. The case called for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be able to access the age pension earlier, to account for the gap in life expectancy.
Read MoreJoin the Human Rights Law Centre’s national campaign to create an Australian Human Rights Act to ensure human rights are properly protected in law at the national level.
Read MoreThis report from the Migrant Justice Institute and the Human Rights Law Centre proposes new whistleblower protections to enable migrant workers to address exploitation.
Read MoreThe Albanese Government abolished Ministerial Direction 80, a policy which intentionally denied thousands of people fleeing persecution the basic human right to live in safety with their families.
Read MoreA new report exposes the failure of the Federal parliament in the 2019 –22 term to fulfil its promise to properly consider human rights before voting on legislation. 60% of legislation with human rights concerns was made into law with no review completed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Read MoreBig corporations shouldn’t be allowed to manipulate politicians to put their profits ahead of our wellbeing. The Human Rights Law Centre advocates for changes to laws and policies to end the cycle of corporate influence in our political system.
Read MoreThe Australian parliament must reform public and private sector whistleblowing law and establish a whistleblower protection authority, according to this report by Griffith University, the Human Rights Law Centre and Transparency International Australia.
Read MoreBroken Promises: Two years of corporate reporting under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act examines the second year of corporate statements submitted to the Government's Modern Slavery Register by 92 companies sourcing from four sectors with known risks of modern slavery: garments from China, rubber gloves from Malaysia, seafood from Thailand and fresh produce from Australia.
Read MoreA new report by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Human Rights Law Centre, Labour in Limbo: Bridging Visa E holders and Modern Slavery Risk in Australia, casts a new light on the continued suffering of people who sought safety in Australia by boat.
Read MoreEnshrining the right to a healthy environment in law is one way we can hold governments to account for the benefit of future generations. In November 2022, we secured a win when the ACT Government announced that in 2023 they will introduce the right to a healthy environment into the ACT Human Rights Act.
Read MoreIn 2004, the Australian Capital Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to establish a Human Rights Act. At present, however, people have to take legal action in the complex and expensive Supreme Court, which is out of reach for most people. In 2022, the Human Rights Law Centre called on the Australian Capital Territory to remove these needless barriers from the Act to make it easier for people to uphold their human rights.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has developed an online resource that shows 101 examples of how Charters of Rights that exist in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland are making peoples lives better.
Read MoreEvery day these other prosecutions remain alive, democracy in Australia suffers. The cases send a chilling message to prospective whistleblowers: don’t speak out or you will pay the price.
Read MoreFor years – to justify spending billions of dollars on prison expansion – governments across Australia have parroted the line that prisons support “community safety”. This premise is false.
Read MoreWhistleblowers make our democracy stronger, but too often, people are afraid to come forward when they witness wrongdoing for fear of reprisal. The Human Rights Law Centre pushes for stronger whistleblower protections through advocacy and strategic litigation.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has adopted an equitable briefing policy for the new financial year.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has run a competition calling on high school students to write an essay explaining how a Charter of Rights would benefit Australians. The competition aimed to find the best introduction to an Australian Charter of Human Rights.
Read MoreEveryone should be able to access quality education, regardless of their postcode or bank balance. People living in remote and rural areas, First Nations people and children from migrant backgrounds often lack equitable access to education. The Human Rights Law Centre co-hosted a webinar on the right to education with the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion in February 2022.
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