AHRC Events

Each year the Centre convenes the Annual AHRC Public Lecture and a seminar program with Australian and international speakers on human rights issues of contemporary significance. The AHRCentre Annual Lecture series has featured David Malouf; LSE Professor of Human Rights law, Conor Gearty; South African constitutional and human rights lawyer, Professor Sandra Liebenberg; a transitional justice and human rights expert and Professor Stephen Parmentier from the Catholic University , Leuven.

Events hosted by the AHRC are posted here. Should you wish to be added to the AHRCentre mailing list and receive email alerts of upcoming AHRCentre events please proceed to CONTACT US

Friday 23rd October 2009 - Monitoring economic, social and cultural rights: the South African experience and its lessons for the Australia human rights debate

The Australian Human Rights Centre at UNSW invites you to a Roundtable on Monitoring economic, social and cultural rights: the South African experience and its lessons for the Australia human rights debate. Join us to discuss the South African experience, and to consider the proposals relating to the better protection of economic, social and cultural rights made by the National Human Rights Consultation Committee in its report of 30 September 2009 to the Commonwealth Government. The keynote presenter is Cameron Jacobs fromt he South African Human Rights Commission. .

Cameron Jacobs is a Senior Researcher in the Economic and Social Rights (ESR) Unit at the South African Human Rights Commission. He specifically conducts and manages the research activities in respect of the rights to land, housing and education as well as being responsible for the overall conceptualization and operationalisation of the research activities of the ESR Unit. He also assists in the writing of presentations and journal articles, is the Chairperson of the Commission's Human Rights Development Report. He holds degrees in sociology and public policy from the University of Cape Town and has a background in law. His research interests include land tenure reform, culture and identity and human rights.

Time:10am - 12:30pm
Date: Friday, 23rd October 2009
Venue: Boardroom, Level 2, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus
RSVP: to ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Thursday 15th October 2009

Tuesday 17th November 2009 - AHRCentre Annual Public Lecture

Religious challenges to human rights - Can secularism contribute to peace-making in the Middle East?

Frances Raday holds the Lieberman Chair in Labour Law at the Hebrew University and is Director of the Concord Research Institute for Integration of International Law in Israel. She was Chair of the Lafer Center for Women’s Studies and of the Academic Committee of the Minerva Center for Human Rights and Chief Editor of the Israel Law Review. She has been counsel in key legal proceedings on labour and discrimination issues and from 2000 - 2003, she was an Expert Member of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

Thursday 15th October 2009 - Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global Economy

The paper draws on the book of the same name recently published by Cambridge University Press. The paper analyses how human rights intersect with the three principal components of the global economy – trade, aid and commerce. It adopts the twin perspectives that while the global economy is an essential civilising instrument, it nonetheless has within it tendencies and practices that themselves require civilising, according to human rights standards. From this base, the paper chastens both extremes of the debate and constructs an argument for seeking out and promoting the ways in which the global economy advances the ends of human rights, while at the same time taming the undesirable excesses of capitalisme sauvage and containing the detrimental effects of market failures, such as we are presently witnessing in the global capital markets

David Kinley holds the Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney. He has taught at universities all over the world and held academic posts in the UK and the US, as well as Australia. He publications in the particular field of human rights and the global economy include: Commercial Law and Human Rights (2002, with Bottomley), Human Rights and Corporations (2009), and World Trade Organisation and Human Rights (forthcoming, 2009, with Joseph and Waincymer), as well as many articles and reports. He has advised governments and multinational corporations on human rights issues, and has worked for and with agencies such as the UN, the World Bank, AusAID and various NGOs on human rights related projects, especially in countries across South East Asia.

David was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He studied at the universities of Sheffield and Cambridge, and after obtaining his doctorate from the latter in 1990, he moved to Australia.

Time:12:30 - 2:00pm
Date: Thursday 15th October 2009
Venue: Seminar Room, Level 2, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus
RSVP: to ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Monday 12th October 2009

I am pleased to invite you to attend a talk by Norm Stamper, Ph.D, on Thursday 8^th October 2009, from 12pm – 1pm, in the Law Theatre, Ground Floor of the Law Building, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Prof. David Dixon, Dean of the Faculty of Law, will be moderating this event.

Dr. Stamper is a major proponent of significant drug law reform believing the “war on drugs” has actually been a war on people. Having served as a police officer for 34 years, and Chief of the Seattle Police Department from 1998 to 2000, Norm Stamper is one of the strongest voices in the US advocating legalisation of illicit drugs.

Regulated legalisation of all drugs to make neighborhoods and communities safer and healthier;
An examination of the failed approach in the US with billions of dollars, almost $69 billion/year, being wasted on federal, state and local police, courts, prosecutors, prisons, probation, parole and other punishment-related programs;

He has also recently released a book called Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing.

Time:12:00 - 1:00pm
Date: Thursday 8th October 2009
Venue: G23, Law Theatre, Ground Floor, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus

Tuesday 1st September 2009 - The right to health in Zimbabwe: interpreting Australia's transnational human rights obligations

The health system in Zimbabwe, once the envy of Africa, has virtually collapsed. Thousands have died of cholera in the past year and many more are at risk in future outbreaks of this and similar diseases that thrive where water and sanitation services are poor. The Mugabe/Zanu PF-led reign of terror has spawned massive inflation and diminishing salaries, declining transportation networks and deteriorating working conditions, with thousands of well-trained health workers migrating to other countries. Australia has been one of the major beneficiaries of this migration. Exploring the evolution of the doctrine of responsibility to protect, international law and human rights conventions, and development and aid objectives, the seminar will consider what, if any, are Australia’s legal obligations towards realising the right to health in countries where the health system is a casualty of political conflict and economic collapse.

Andrea Durbach is Director of the Australian Human Rights Centre and Associate Professor at UNSW Faculty of Law.

Beth Goldblatt is Research Fellow in the Disability Studies and Research Centre and Visiting Fellow at the Australian Human Rights Centre, UNSW.

Thursday 27th August 2009 - UCT/UNSW Student Exchange Launch (invitation only)

Student Exchange Program launch hosted by The Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales,
Professor David Dixon and Deputy Dean, Internationalisation and Outreach, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, Professor Evance Kalula.

Tuesday 21st July 2009 - Justice Yvonne Mokgoro, South African Constitutional Court

The AHRCentre is delighted to be hosting an evening seminar with South African Constitutional Court judge, Justice Yvonne Mokgoro who will address the topic: 'The Role of Legislation and Courts in Promoting Socio-Economic Rights: the South African experience"

Time: 6:30 - 8:00pm
Date: Tuesday 21st July 2009
Venue: Seminar Room, Level 2, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus
RSVP: to ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Friday 17th July 2009

Thursday 21st May 2009 - Corporate responsibility: failed rhetoric or future remedy?

The Australian Human Rights Centre and Allens Arthur Robinsons invite you to a discussion on

Corporate responsibility encompasses corporate ethics, workplace issues, and environmental as well as human rights concerns. In the context of the current financial crisis and moves by the Federal government to explore improved protection for human rights for Australia, the seminar will consider whether corporate social responsibility initiatives are effective or detract from notions of corporate accountability. The role of business in protecting human rights will be a key focus of the seminar.

The seminar will include speakers from the Office of the United Nations Special Representative on Business and Human rights, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, Allens Arthur Robinson, the Australian Human Rights Centre and the Gilbert & Tobin Centre for Public Law.

Time: 5.30 for 6pm start. Concludes at 7.45pm.
Date: Thursday 21 May 2009
Venue: Allens Arthur Robinson
Level 28, Deutsche Bank Place
Corner of Hunter & Phillip Streets
Sydney NSW 2000
RSVP: to ahrc@unsw.edu.au by 14th May 2000

Launched by: The Hon. John Hatzistergos MLC, NSW Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations. Keynote Speakers:

● Andrea Durbach - Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law, UNSW and
Director, Australian Human Rights Centre
● Kate Eastman - Human Rights Barrister and Co-Founder, Australian
Lawyers for Human Rights
● Jonathon Hunyor - Director of Legal Services, Australian Human Rights
Commission

and with a range of Human Rights practitioners available
to share their experiences with you during the evening.

Time: Thursday 14 May 2009
Date: 6pm - 8pm
Venue: The Strangers Dining Room, NSW Parliament House. Macquarie Street, Sydney
Cost: Donation at the door (Refreshments provided)

RSVP is essential as places are strictly limited. E-mail your RSVP to careers.hrc@younglawyers.com.au

Friday 3rd April 2009 - University of Sydney and the ARC project present: Gender, Race and Reparations Workshop

The Institute of Criminology, Law School, University of Sydney and the ARC Project 'Legal Responses to Systemic Injuries: Towards a new Paradigm for Compensation' present a seminar:

Gender, Race and Reparations Workshop

Over the past decades, there have been numerous inquiries and revelations in Australia about the harms suffered by children in institutional care. In 1997, the Human Rights Commission published 'Bringing Them Home', reporting on the experiences of the Stolen Generations. While the Prime Minister delivered an apology in 2008, thus far there has been no redress or reparations process established. In other countries, bodies such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa have sought to respond to historical harms. Canada has established a comprehensive program to respond to the treatment of indigenous people in "Indian Residential Schools." Some Australian states (Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia) have now established (somewhat modest) redress schemes.

The purpose of this workshop is to analyse some of those programs, particularly from the point of view of their capacity to respond effectively to the most disadvantaged members of the community.   Questions to be addressed include:

*       What is the relationship between the traditional criminal and civil justice systems, and redress or reparations schemes?
*       Can the traditional criminal or civil systems take adequate account of race and gender?
*       Can the tort system ever respond effectively to historic harms?
*       Can a redress scheme ever be a 'healing package' (as one Canadian scheme has been described)?
*       What is the role of 'reconciliation'?
*       What is the role of therapeutic jurisprudence?
*       What is the role of restorative justice?
*       Is there such a thing as a feminist adjudication process?
*       Are these schemes really 'alternative' in approach?

Participants in the workshop will include:

*       Professor Anita Bernstein, Brooklyn Law School
*       Professor Chris Cunneen, UNSW Law School

*       Professor Andrea Durbach, UNSW Law School, Director of the Australian Human Rights Centre
*       Beth Goldblatt, Sydney Law School/ Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
*       Professor Reg Graycar (convenor), Sydney Law School
*       Dr Ben Mathews, QUT Law School
*       Professor Julie Stubbs, Sydney Law School
*       Jane Wangmann, Sydney Law School/UTS Law School

Time: 12:30 - 4:30 pm
Date: Friday 3rd April , 2009
Venue: Common Room, New Law Building, Building F10, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
RSVP: e.r.miller@usyd.edu.au or 9351 0444 by Thursday, 2nd March 2009

For directions to the New Law Building please check the University of Sydney website:

Tuesday 24th March 2009 - Reframing the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A human rights perspective, featuring Jeff Halper

The Australian Human Rights Centre UNSW invites you to Reframing the Israel-Palestine conflict:
a human rights perspective with Dr Jeff Halper

Dr. Jeff Halper is a Professor of Anthropology formerly at Haifa and Ben Gurion universities. He received his PhD in Cultural and Applied Anthropology from the University of Wisonsin-Milwaukee and has taught
at universities in Israel, the US, Latin America and Africa. He is the author of 'Between Redemption and Revival', 'Obstacles to Peace' and 'An Israeli in Palestine'. Dr. Halper was Director and Head of the Middle East Center for Friends World College and Coordinating Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He is the recipient of the Olive Branch Award from Jewish Voice for Peace in the USA and he was nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize by the American Friends Service Committee.

Time: 6:00pm – 7:450pm
Date: Tuesday 24th March, 2009
Venue: Seminar Room, level 2, Law Building, UNSW
RSVP: ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Thursday, 19th March 2009

Wednesday 18th March 2009 - UNSWPress presents, In Conversation with Andrew Byrnes, Gabrielle McKinnon and Richard Acklan.

We accept the universal right to live in freedom and without oppression, but are our human rights adequately protected by Australian law? Is a national Bill of Rights necessary?

Andrew Byrnes and Gabrielle McKinnon in conversation with
Richard Ackland, SMH Columnist and law journalist.

Date: Wednesday 18th March, 2009
Time: 6:30 for 7:00pm start
Venue: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
RSVP: to book tickets ($10/$7 concession) call (02) 9660 2333 or www.gleebooks.com.au/events

Tuesday 17th February 2009 - International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Implementation, National and International Monitoring with Professor Gerard Quinn.

The Australian Human Rights Centre, the Disability Studies and Research Centre and the Australian Human Rights Commission host this seminar featuring Professor Gerard Quinn. The Professor is the Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the National University of ireland, Galway, Ireland.

Date: Tuesday, 17th February, 2009
Time: 10.00am-4:00pm
Venue: Room 162, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus
RSVP: Friday, 13th February, 2009 to disabdis@humanrights.gov.au

Friday 20th February 2009 - Can the UN Combat Racism: A Preview of the Durban Review Conference with Richard Clarke, Andrea Durbach and Tom Calma.

In April, the UN’s Durban Review Conference will assess the progress made since the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in South Africa, and determine new strategies for the future. At the conclusion of the 2001 conference, a range of measures were proposed, including stopping the slave trade, preventing genocide and combating the continuing effects of colonialism and colonialist ideas perpetuating racial discrimination. The review process has proved controversial, however, with some states boycotting the conference, and certain commentators advocating a boycott. The Review Conference will be discussed by the following three experts:

Date:   Friday 20 February 2009
Time:   6.00 to 7.30 pm
Venue:   Monash Law Chambers
RSVP: castan.centre@law.monash.edu.au or call 03 9905 3327

Wednesday 10th December 2008 - 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights with Lord Bingham and Elizabeth Evatt AC.

The Australian Human Rights Centre, the Initiative for Health and Human Rights and the Diplomacy Training
Program invite you to a celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights with Lord Bingham, leading human rights jurist and former Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Elizabeth Evatt AC, former member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Date: Wednesday, 10th December, 2008
Time: 10.30am-12.00noon
Venue: Law Theatre, Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Campus
RSVP: Friday, 5th December, 2008 to ahrc@unsw.edu.au

Friday 28th November 2008 - Violence Against Women: the power of men, the power of rights

The Australian Human Rights Centre invites you to Violence Against Women: the power of men, the power of rights with Ineke Boerefijn and Penelope Andrews.

Ineke Boerefijn is an associate professor at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, School of Law, Utrecht University. Formerly the ‘Opzij Chair’ at the Centre for Gender and Diversity, Maastricht University, she is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Human Rights Centre, UNSW Faculty of Law.

Penelope Andrews is Professor of Law at Valparaiso University Law School and Chair of Law at LaTrobe University. She has taught in the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Europe and has held visiting positions including the Stoneman Professor of Law and Democracy at Albany Law School and the Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human Rights, University of Saskatchewan.

Thursday, 25th September 2008 - AHRC Annual Public Lecture, Reconciliation and Human Rights with Stephen Parmentier

The Australian Human Rights Centre is pleased to announce that the AHRC Annual Public lecture this year will be given by Professor Stephan Parmentier form the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Professor Parmentier, an international expert in political crimes and transitional justice, will address the topic Reconciliation and Human Rights.

Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, will offer concluding observations

The lecture, on 25^th September 2008 at UNSW, will take place against the backdrop of the Australian government’s apology to the Stolen Generations and the Senate and Legal and Constitutional Committee Inquiry into Compensation for the Stolen Generations.

Stephan Parmentier (1960) studied law, political sciences and sociology at the K.U. Leuven (Belgium), and sociology and conflict resolution at the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (U.S.A.). He currently teaches sociology of crime, law, and human rights at the Faculty of Law of the K.U. Leuven, where he is the Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology. He has been a visiting professor at the International Institute for Sociology of Law in Oñati (Spain) and the University for Peace (San José, Costa Rica) and a visiting scholar at the universities of Stellenbosch (South Africa), Oxford (United Kingdom), and New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). He is the editor-in-chief of the Flemish Yearbook on Human Rights and the co-general editor of the new Series on Transitional Justice. Stephan Parmentier has served as an advisor to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Belgian Minister of the Interior, the King Baudouin Foundation, and Amnesty International. His research interests include political crimes, transitional justice and human rights, and the administration of criminal justice, and he has conducted research in South Africa, Guatemala, Bosnia, Serbia, the DR Congo, Argentina, and Colombia.
Between 1999 and 2002, he served as the vice-president of the Flemish section of Amnesty International."

The Faculty Auditorium is on the ground floor of the Law Building, University Mall, Lower Campus, Kensington. Metered parking is available at UNSW Gate 14 on Barker Street or Gate 2 on High Street.

An expert panel will discuss The death penalty: Why should Australians care? at an Amnesty International event at the Sydney University Law School Assembly Hall on Thursday July 3 at 6.30pm.

In statistics published in April, Amnesty International revealed that at least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and expressed deep concern that many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Vietnam.

Associate Professor Andrea Durbach, lawyer for the Upington 25 (14 of whom were sentenced to death), South Africa; Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales and Director, Australian Human Rights Centre

Venue: Baker and McKenzie, Level 27, AMP Centre, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney , NSW, 2000RSVP: ahrc@unsw.edu.au by 21st March 2008 (essential)

Professor Martin Scheinin is Professor of Constitutional and International Law, Director of the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. He is a leading academic expert in the field of human rights, has served as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and currently serves as the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism. He also chairs the International Law Association's Committee on International Human Rights Law and Practice. His current research projects include the implementation of a human rights-based approach to development, constitutional issues of the international community, and preventive and reactive dimensions of international human rights monitoring. Professor Scheinin is in Australia on an academic visit.

Featuring Sandra Liebenberg, Stellenbosch UniversityProfessor Sandra Liebenberg has published widely regarding the enforcement of socio-economic rights under both the South African Constitution and under international human rights law and equality jurisprudence with particular emphasis on gender equality. She is editor of, The Constitution of South Africa from a Gender Perspective and has recently contributed to the field of socio-economic rights by writing for the journal, Law Democracy & Development on Socio-Economic Rights and Transformation in South Africa.

Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the Movement for Democratic Change (Leader of the Opposition), Zimbabwe.

Malainin Lakhal – Secretary General of the Saharawi Writers and Journalists Union

Malainin Lakhal was born in 1971 four years before Morocco invaded his country, Western Sahara. He lived through the ensuing war (1975-1991), the UN brokered cease-fire and the preparations for a referendum for self-determination - which is yet to happen. In 1999, whilst being sought by security forces as a suspected leader of the Malainin resistance, he fled Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara for territory held by the national independence movement, the Polisario Front. He has since been living in a Saharawi refugee camp since, working as a teacher, translator and Secretary-General of the Saharawi Writers and Journalists Union, bringing the stories of human rights abuses in the Western-Sahara to the world.Time: 1pm (arrive at 12:30 for a light lunch) Date: Wednesday 13th June 2007Venue: Seminar Room, Level 2, Law Building, University of New South Wales RSVP: ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Friday 8th June 2007 (booking is essential)

Pius Ncube, the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, is a critical figure in Zimbabwe's civil rights movement and an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe. A prominent human rights and pro-democracy activist, Archbishop Ncube has been brought to Australia as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to address the current political and social situation in Zimbabwe.Time: 1pm (arrive at 12:30 for a light lunch)When: Friday 4th May 2007Where: Seminar Room, Level 2, Law Building, University of New South Wales, SydneyRSVP: ahrc@unsw.edu.au by Monday 30th April 2007 (essential as space is limited)

The symposium explored the environmental, health and legal consequences of climate change. Speakers highlighted research demonstrating that climate change and environmental degradation present critical challenges to the protection of human rights and the overall security of the nation. The speakers included:

Tuesday 16th May 2006Annual Public Lecture: Human Rights, Human Security - Protecting Rights in the National Interest

On Tuesday 16th May a packed Metcalfe Auditorium heard Professor Conor Gearty, Rausing Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights and Professor of Human Rights Law, London School of Economics, give the AHRC Annual Public Lecture on Human Rights, Human Security - protecting rights in the national interest. The NSW Attorney-General, the Honourable Bob Debus, MP, opened the lecture and introduced Professor Gearty.

Tuesday 15th August 2006John Pace – Former Cheif of the Human Rights Office of the UN Assistance Mission, Iraq

The AHRC and the Faculty of Law are delighted to invite you to a seminar by John Pace, former Chief of the Human Rights Office of the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (2004-2006). Faculty of Law Visiting Fellow and AHRC Centre Associate, Dr Pace will address the topic: Challenges for the UN Human Rights Office in Iraq

Time: 1pm (arrive at 12:30 for a light lunch) Date: Tuesday 15th August 2006Venue: Seminar Room, Level 2, Law Building, University of New South Wales