Keenan Mundine, Lee Carnie and Daniel Webb at the UN

UNITED NATIONS / Indigenous advocate Keenan Mundine addresses the UN Human Rights Council

"I have spent more than half of my life behind bars, and I want to make sure this will not be the same future for my children. Right now, children as young as ten are still being locked away in prisons across Australia."

Indigenous advocate Keenan Mundine travelled to Geneva with the Human Rights Law Centre to address the UN Human Rights Council about the Turnbull Government’s failure to stop ten year old children being sent to prison.

REFUGEE RIGHTS / Cruel anniversary for 1650 people still imprisoned

Yesterday marked five years of limbo and suffering for over 1650 men, women and children indefinitely imprisoned in the Turnbull Government’s refugee camps on Manus Island and Nauru.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS / Queensland set to decriminalise abortion

The Queensland Parliament has the historic opportunity to bring its woefully outdated abortion laws into the 21st Century with the Queensland Premier proposing welcome new laws to remove abortion from the criminal code.

OPINION / The women whose voices have no hope of being heard

It’s 2018 and women’s voices are still ridiculed and dismissed. But there’s no doubting that our voices are out there, loud and clear. This is a good thing, but not all women’s voices are heard, writes our Freya Dinshaw.

UNITED NATIONS / UN expert on racism condemns cynical refugee politics

The UN expert on racism has delivered a major report condemning the rise of toxic and hate-filled refugee and migration politics around the world. The report makes specific reference to the cynical politics surrounding the treatment of refugees in Australia.

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS / High Court asked to review dangerous and unfair alcohol laws in the NT

The Human Rights Law Centre has asked the High Court to review a decision by the Northern Territory Court of Appeal regarding an Aboriginal man who was unfairly charged 28 times for breaching misguided and discriminatory alcohol laws.

EVENT / Hugh de Kretser on Why Australia needs a Charter of Human Rights

Join our Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, on 20 September at RMIT University where he will deliver the 2018 Higinbotham Lecture outlining why Australia needs a Charter of Human Rights and what you can do to create one.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS / Time for NT to fully respect a woman's right to choose

Northern Territory women have had 12 months of better quality healthcare since abortion laws were reformed last year, however the Northern Territory Government is yet to finish the job.

UNITED NATIONS / Australia must better protect LGBTI women's rights says UN Committee

The UN’s expert committee on discrimination against women has raised a series of concerns about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer women and girls in Australia.

EVENT / Speeding Towards Dystopia: Social Policy in the United States and Australia

In this free public lecture, UN Special Rapporteur on poverty and human rights Professor Philip Alston reflects on what he sees as the increasingly dramatic parallels in social policy between the US and Australia, and the threat posed by these developments.

This event is co-hosted by the University of Melbourne and the Human Rights Law Centre and will be held at the Melbourne Law School on 14 August.

AUSTRALIAN CASE SUMMARIES

ACT Supreme Court finds that Human Rights Act does not offer compensation as a remedy for unlawful detention

Lewis v Australian Capital Territory [2018] ACTSC 19 (16 February 2018)

INTERNATIONAL CASE SUMMARIES

Employee denied reasons for security clearance revocation was not deprived of right to a fair trial, European Court finds

Regner v the Czech Republic [2017] ECHR (Application no. 35289/11) (19 September 2017)

European Court finds dismissal of public servant for disclosing information not a breach of freedom of expression

Catalan v Romania (Application No. 13003/04) [2018] ECHR (9 January 2018)

Irish High Court recognises personal constitutional right to environment

Merriman v Fingal County Council; Friends of the Irish Environment Clg v Fingal County Council [2017] IEHC 695

US Supreme Court upholds Trump Travel Ban

Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. ___ (2018) (26 June 2018)

South African High Court upholds right to freedom of assembly

Mlungwana v The State [2018] ZAWHC 3

NOTICE BOARD

JOB / Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission

VEOHRC is seeking a Senior Project Adviser to implement the 'Reducing Racism' project and more broadly address racism within multicultural and multi-faith communities. Applications close 22 July.

JOB / GetUp!

GetUp! is looking for a Human Rights Campaigns Co-Director to lead the organisation’s work on people seeking asylum, racial justice and in defence of First Nations and communities of colour across the country. Applications close 6 August.

JOB / Justice Connect

Justice Connect are seeking a Senior Lawyer for their Homeless Law Service and a Principal Lawyer for their Domestic Building Legal Service. Applications for both positions close 24 July.

JOB / United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Canberra is seeking a Senior Protection Officer to support the UN's work to uphold the basic human rights of uprooted or stateless people in their countries of asylum. Apply by 22 July.

JOB / North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency

NAAJA's Alice Springs office is seeking a Senior Criminal Lawyer to provide legal advice and representation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to undertake work aimed at overcoming the disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Applications close 22 July.

CONFERENCE / Property Rights and Human Rights: New Possibilities in an Age of Inequality

Held on 9 and 10 August, this Monash University conference will explore possibilities in property rights and human rights in an age of global inequality, mass movements of people, and modern forms of slavery.

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Modern Slavery Bill welcomed, but no penalties for breaching act

The seriousness and scale of labour rights abuses heard by a recent parliamentary inquiry highlighted the need for robust laws to address them, Keren Adams told The Guardian.

Teenager held in solitary confinement in adult prison sues state government

A young Aboriginal man is suing the state government for subjecting him to a brutal solitary confinement regime in an adult prison for three months when he was 16 years old. Ruth Barson spoke to The Age.

Transgender people in Queensland no longer need to divorce their spouse to have their gender legally recognised

Transgender woman Roz Dickson won’t have to divorce her wife of more than two decades to change the gender on her birth certificate after laws were passed in Queensland Parliament. Anna Brown spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald about the reform.

Abortion clinic safe access zones welcome, but NSW is urged to remove abortion from the criminal code

While women can have an abortion in certain circumstances in NSW, the laws cause fear and confusion, and they tell women they can't be trusted to make decisions, Adrianne Walters told SBS.

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