Category: Human Rights
Children need to learn their 3Rs…and human rights
Students should learn about human rights, in schools and universities, as an integral part of their education, not necessarily only as a standalone subject, a major internatinal human rights conference heard recently. More than 400 hundred human rights experts representing 50 countries attended the 9th International Conference on Human Rights Education at Western Sydney University in November 2018. CLA member Sophie Bouris reports on the highlights.
Dutton devalues sex register by false, overblown claims
Want to help a ‘caravaner’ refugee?
As waves of people continue to push on foot towards a possibly walled Mexico-USA border, the US President is lowering even further the number of refugees permitted into the USA in 2019. Can individual Australians sponsor a ‘caravaner’ refugee? Yes, but it’s costly, lengthy and replete with reams and months, if not years, of red tape. CLA Director and refugee expert Jennifer Ashton explains.
High Court makes children pawns in police-justice tug of war
The most surprising aspect of the High Court’s decision on the lawyer-informer case involving Victoria Police is not how much the court castigated the lawyer, or how it delivered a blistering attack on the standards and culture within Victoria Police. What no-one seems to have picked up on is how seven judges of the High Court of Australia have delivered what a lay person would call a judicial threat against the lawyer: go into VicPol’s witness protection program – against your own wishes – or you are likely to lose your children, taken from you by the State.
Govt’s latest gift: new laws further eroding our civil liberties
By Paul Gregoire* The Morrison Coalition government unleashed a swag of draconian laws in the final parliamentary sitting weeks of this year. The Defence Amendment (Call Out of the Australian Defence Force) Bill 2018 was passed on 27 November. This legislation lowered the threshold of when the government can send in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to assist state and territory police forces with domestic incidents. Prior to its passing, the troops could only be sent in when state authorities had exhausted all options. Now they can be sent in to “enhance” the ability of local police. And the bill alsoContinue reading