Past AHRC events
2006
Nov - Invitation to graduates to apply for Human Rights Fellowship
The Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales in partnership with the UNSW Faculty of Law and
the Australian Human Rights Centre (AHRC) has established a Human Rights Fellowship Program
for graduate law students. The fellowship program has been developed to give UNSW law
students interested in human rights legal practice an opportunity to gain hands-on work experience
in the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales.
Fellowship Information Pack
Aug - Invitation to students to participate in Model UN meeting in China, November 2006
We are delighted to announce an initiative of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the UN Association of China, the Faculty of Law and the Australian Human Rights Centre. The Model UN in
China
initiative provides 5 eligible students the opportunity to participate in a Model UN meeting in
China
(all expenses paid) in late November this year. A copy of the advertisement calling for applications and detailing the program and selection criteria is attached. It is also available on the Faculty homepage under Current Students at
http://www.law.unsw.edu.au/current_students/docs/China_Aus_UN_Application.pdf
Eligible students must be in their final years of study and have completed a course in public international law and/or human rights. Students who have volunteered or worked in human rights or public interest organisations and have experience in drafting and debating will be given preference in the selection process. Students must also be available to undertake the Program during the period 22 – 28 November, 2006.
AUG - Challenges for the UN Human Rights Office in 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
Date: Tuesday, 15 August 2006
Time: 12.30pm (a light lunch will be provided)
Venue: UNSW Faculty of Law Staff Common Room [Location Details]
Illegal organ harvesting in China
Host: Edmund Rice Centre (Awareness, Advocacy, Action) www.erc.org.au
ERC is a member of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG)
When: Thursday, 17th August 2006
Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Where: Theatrette, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Housing is a Human Right
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the National Association of Community Legal Centres invites you to Housing is a Human Right, a forum with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing.
Mr Kothari, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing is on an official visit to Australia. Mr Kothari's mandate includes issues such as access to water and electricity, sanitation, land rights, forced evictions and displacement as well as the general human right to adequate housing.
Please join us for a forum to discuss international and domestic developments on the attainment of the right to adequate housing.
The forum is open to all interested individuals and groups.
Date: Wednesday 2 August
Time: 5.45pm for 6pm start (conclusion by 8pm)
Venue: Barnet Long Room, Customs House, 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay 2000
PIAC and NACLC gratefully acknowledge the support of the City of Sydney in providing the venue for the forum. For further information on the work of the Special Rapporteur go to http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm.
For further information contact Emma Golledge egolledge@piac.asn.au or Jo Shulman jshulman@piac.asn.au.
Twilight Seminar: Global Warming: Experiences From The Edge
Date: Tuesday 20 June
Time: 5:30 pm
Place: Baker & McKenzie, AMP Centre, Level 27, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney
Cost: $15.00 non-members, $10.00 ILA members, $5.00 students pay at the door.
RSVP: By Friday 16 June to Rachel Newman on (02) 9210 2659 or rachel.newman@bakernet.com
The speakers are Associate Professor Rosemary Rayfuse, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales and Mr Martijn Wilder, Partner, Baker & McKenzie.
Associate Professor Rosemary Rayfuse is the Director of International Law Programs at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. She specialises in public international law and the law of the sea with particular reference to issues of oceans governance and sustainability of high seas living marine resources. Her current research focuses on the future of polar governance in light of the effects of global warming. Her recent attempt to become the first Australian woman to ski from the North Pole to Canada was cut short by lack of ice. She will discuss the evidence and effects of global warming on the polar regions, the challenges to polar and global governance caused by global warming, and the results of her expedition.
Mr Martijn Wilder is head of Baker & McKenzie's global climate change group and Chair of the NSW Premier's Greenhouse Advisory Panel. He will speak on the global market response to global warming and how business and global capital is responding.
Australians and the Death Penalty: National and International Dimensions
Wednesday 7 June, 3.00 - 7.30pm
Session 1: 'Off-shore Policing and Death Penalty Punishments' (3-5pm)
Chair: Professor Mark Findlay (Institute of Criminology)
Speakers: Dr David Indermaur (University of Western Australia) "Attitudes to the death penalty: An Australian perspective"
Michael Walton (Committee Member, NSW Council for Civil Liberties) “Transnational policing, human rights and the death penalty"
Michael Phelan (National Manager, Border & International Network, Australian Federal Police)
Professor Simon Bronitt (Australian National University)
Session 2: International Perspectives on the Death Penalty (5.30-7.30pm)
Chair: Professor David Kinley (Sydney Centre for International and Global Law)
Speakers: Dr Natalie Klein (Macquarie University) "Litigating before the ICJ in Death Penalty Cases"
Ian Farrell (University of Wollongong) "Litigating Death Penalty Cases in the US"
A/Professor Steven Freeland (UWS) "The Death Penalty in the Context of the International Criminal Tribunals'"
Suzanne Clark (Amnesty International) "The Australian Campaign against the Death Penalty"
Venue: NSW Parliament House Theatrette, Macquarie St, Sydney
Registration: $50, $15 concession.
For registration or further information please contact Rachel or Nina on (02) 9351 0239 or email rachelm@law.usyd.edu.au or ninar@law.usyd.edu.au, or check our website at http://www.criminology.law.usyd.edu.au/
AHRC Annual 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. A copy of Professor Gearty's lecture is available below.
>> Download the lecture notes
>> Click here for more information on Professor Gearty's forthcoming book, 'Can Human Rights Survive?'
Law Week Seminar
Human Rights Advocacy and Activism - Thursday 25th May 2006
UNSW hosts UN expert on health and human rights
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Professor Paul Hunt, delivered a public address in Sydney Tuesday 2 May.
Professor Hunt’s lecture entitled The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health: Opportunities and Challenges was hosted by the University’s Australian Human Rights Centre, the Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) and the Initiative for Health and Human Rights. Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court offered some concluding remarks.
>> Download Professor Hunt's paper [MS Word Format]
Invited to Australia by the DTP, Professor Hunt will also be working with the program’s Indigenous human rights and advocacy training course in Darwin in May.
Paul Hunt is a Professor of Law, and member of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He has worked on human rights projects in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific. Professor Hunt’s Special Rapporteur reports are available online.
Seminar: Developments in Citizenship Law: A Human Rights Perspective
On Friday 7th April the HREOC Legal Section is conducting a seminar on recent developments on citizenship law. The seminar will focus on recent developments in High Court jurisprudence, as well as the potential human rights implications of the Australian Citizenship Bill 2005.
The seminar will be chaired by the Human Rights and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Graeme Innes AM and will feature two speakers:
- Professor Kim Rubenstein, Director of the Centre for International and Public Law, ANU College of Law, ANU. Professor Rubenstein will speak about the High Court case Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs; Ex Parte Ame [2005] HCA 36 (4 August 2005) and recent developments regarding the rights associated with the legal status of Australian citizenship.
- Bruce Levet of the New South Wales Bar. Mr Levet will speak on the aliens power contained in Section 51 (xix) of the Australian Constitution, particularly as it affects Australian- born children, and will discuss recent and developing case law on the issue together with the likely effects of the Citizenship Bill 2005 on future jurisprudence in the area.
Admission is free and the seminar will take place on 7th April 2006 at 1:00 – 2:30 pm. The venue is:
The Hearing Room
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Level 8 Piccadilly Tower
133 Castlereagh Street Sydney
Reservations are essential. Please email Ms Gina Sanna at legal@humanrights.gov.au if you wish to attend this seminar.
We look forward to seeing you there
EMINENT JURISTS PANEL ON TERRORISM, COUNTER-TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Sydney Hearings 14-15 March 2006
In the last few years many governments, including our own, have adopted legislative and other measures to combat terrorism. Some of these measures pose serious questions for the protection of long-established principles of human rights and the rule of law. The International Commission of Jurists has established an independent Panel of Eminent Jurists on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights.
ICJ Australia will be hosting hearings of the Eminent Jurists Panel in Sydney on Australia's counter-terrorism measures on 14 and 15 March 2006, at the premises of the Law Society of New South Wales, 170 Phillip Street, Sydney.
>> Read more
THE ROAD TO A REMEDY: CURRENT ISSUES IN THE LITIGATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Edited by John Squires (AHRC) and Malcolm Langford and Bret Thiele (COHRE).
Published by the Australian Human Rights Centre, distributed by UNSW Press, RRP $29.95
While case law in a number of jurisdictions has dispelled many mythologies surrounding the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights, much work remains to be done in investigating how courts should address some of the more complex issues that typically arise in such litigation. The Road to a Remedy draws together scholars and practitioners in a cross-national exploration of current litigation issues such as positive obligations of states, the crafting of remedial orders, housing rights and litigation against non-state actors and the theoretical foundations for this emerging litigation practice.
Available from Unireps:
>> Order The Road to a Remedy online
>> Order by phone (pay by credit card): +61 2 93850155
OR purchase on campus at the UNSW Bookshop:
>> UNSW Bookshop website
SPECIAL EDITION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER ON THE ANTI-TERRORISM BILL
The Australian Human Rights Centre has publised a free online edition of our magazine the Human Rights Defender in response to the impact of the new Anti-Terrorism legislation on human rights.
>> Get the Special Edition
AHRC ANNUAL PUBLIC LECTURE 2006
The next AHRC annual public lecture will be delivered by Professor Conor Gearty, Rausing Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of Economics. The lecture will be held at the NSW State Library on the 16th May 2006.
For more information please contact ahrc@unsw.edu.au
LEGAL AID FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
The Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales in partnership with the UNSW Faculty of Law and the Australian Human Rights Centre has established a Human Rights Fellowship Program for graduate law students. The fellowship program has been developed to give UNSW law students interested in human rights legal practice an opportunity to gain hands-on work experience in the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales.
One fellowship is currently available for a UNSW graduate law student to undertake the 15 week clinical component of the College of Law Practical Training Course Professional Program working in the Human Rights Unit of the Legal Aid Commission. The student will gain experience in human rights advocacy, assisting with the preparation of legal cases, law reform, training and education. The student will be paid a pro-rata salary for the 15 weeks.
Applications will be accepted until Friday, 30th January 2006
>> Download the selection criteria
2005
LAUNCH OF ROAD TO A REMEDY AND THANK YOU FUNCTION FOR AHRC CHAIR GARTH NETTHEIM
On Thursday 8 December the Australian Human Rights Centre hosted an event in the UNSW Council Chambers to thank Professor Garth Nettheim for a dedicated and extraordinary two decades as chair, and also to launch The Road To A Remedy: Current Issues in the Litigation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (edited by John Squires (AHRC) and Malcolm Langford and
Bret Thiele (COHRE)).
The event was a great success, with speeches by Law Faculty Dean Leon Trakman, and Professor Paul Redmond thanking Professor Nettheim for his instrumental role in the Centre. The Road to a Remedy was introduced by Malcolm Langford from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, and launched by Professor Nettheim:
>> Read Garth Nettheim's speech
FIVE YEARS OF A HUMAN RIGHTS ACT - VICTORIES, LOSSES AND LESSONS FROM THE UK
The Australian Human Rights Centre, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Public Interest Law Clearing House jointly hosted a seminar with Roger Smith, Executive Director of JUSTICE, United Kingdom
Date: Tuesday 8 November 2005
Time: 5.30pm- 7pm
Venue: Henry Davis York, 44 Martin Place, Sydney
JUSTICE is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists and the United Kingdom’s pre-eminent, independent human rights and law reform organisation.
Prior to joining JUSTICE, Roger was Director, Legal Education and Training, UK Law Society; Director of the Legal Action Group; solicitor to the Child Poverty Action Group and Director of the West Hampstead Community Law Centre. His talk will cover debate in England about the impact of anti-terrorism measures on human rights and the role of the UK Human Rights Act in mediating the British government’s commitment to national security.
>> Download flyer
>> Download Roger Smith's speech
INFORMATION BRIEFING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & SOCIAL JUSTICE AT UNSW
The AHRC and the UNSW Law Faculty held an informal Information Briefing on Wednesday 16th November 2005 about options for studying human rights and social justice at UNSW
The Briefing included two inspirational speakers who talked about how their engagement with human rights and social justice issues has enriched their professional and personal lives.
Information Evening on Human Rights and Social Justice
The Participation Room
6pm – 7.30pm (Speakers 6.15 – 6.45pm)
Level 2, 407 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills
(Office of the NSW Commission for Children & Young People, cnr Randle St.)
Speakers:Ms Mara Moustafine, Director, Amnesty International, Australia
Mr Michael Raper, Director, Welfare Rights Centre, Sydney
>> Download the invitation letter
FILM-SCREENING OF ‘THE GUGULETU SEVEN’, BY CELEBRATED SOUTH AFRICAN DOCUMENTARY FILM-MAKER LINDY WILSON.
Wednesday 19th October 6-8pm, Lecture theatre 1, Central Lecture Block, UNSW
The Guguletu Seven is a chilling account of the killing of seven young black men in apartheid South Africa and the investigation that revealed the truth that lay hidden behind it all.
On 3 March 1986 the elite anti-terrorist South African police force killed seven black men at a crossroads of a township near Cape Town. The film of the killing was duly presented to the press, and the operation characterised as a huge success of the apartheid campaign against the banned African National Congress. But there were those at the time who cast doubts on the police version of events. Ten years later the killings became the focus of an investigation attached to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was South Africa's way of trying to make amends for all the horrors of apartheid.
Filmmaker Lindy Wilson has constructed a compelling narrative around the story of how a young black detective cracked open the story of the Guguletu Seven. It transpires that the police planted their own terrorists in the township, supplied the youngsters with guns - and were waiting to kill them at the right moment. A case of state-sponsored terrorism that went horribly wrong.
The screening was followed by Q&A with Lindy Wilson and special guest Tom Zubrycki, award-winning Australian documentary film-maker.
>> Download flyer
USING THE WOMEN’S CONVENTION (CEDAW) TO MAKE WOMEN’S RIGHTS HAPPEN: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND POSSIBILITIES
A seminar with international human rights activist and CEDAW committee member Shanthi Dairiam
Monday, 10 October 2005 1.00pm - 2pm, UNSW Law Faculty Staff Common Room
Hosted by the Australian Human Rights Centre, the National Association of Community Legal Centres, and Combined Community Legal Centres Group NSW
Shanthi Dairiam is an internationally renowned women’s human rights activist from Malaysia and a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Ms Dairiam provided a brief overview of current issues affecting the realisation women’s human rights globally. She also discussed the ways the CEDAW Committee is confronting current challenges and using existing opportunities to promote the notion of substantive equality and uphold women’s rights. The seminar was introduced by AHRC management committee member Elizabeth Evatt.
>> Download flyer
THE GENESIS OF AND CURRENT PROSPECTS FOR THE HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Seminar with Professor Daniel Tarantola, hosted by the AHRC and the UNSW Faculty of Law
Thursday, 15 September, 1.00pm - 2pm, UNSW Law Faculty Staff Common Room
A former senior advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Daniel Tarantola was most recently with the Harvard School of Public Health, as Instructor with the Department of Population and International Health and as Senior Associate with the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Centre for Health and Human Rights. Of French nationality, Dr Tarantola was involved in the creation of Medecins Sans Frontieres and during a long and distinguished career with WHO supervised the team responsible for eradicating smallpox. As a researcher, he is best known for his work in the area of HIV/AIDS and human rights. The new Chair brings together researchers from the Faculties of Medicine, Arts and Social Sciences, and Law. Issues to be investigated include how best to promote the right to health; the rights of refugees and others affected by war and conflict; the tensions between individual and community rights in controlling communicable diseases; and the particular challenges facing indigenous populations in relation to health.
"Land is Life" Seminar
AID/WATCH, the Environment Defenders Office, and the AHRC hosted a seminar on Monday 5 September 2005 on "Land is life: Human rights, resources and land rights in PNG 30 years after independence".
Speakers: Ms Anne Kajir - Environmental Law Centre, PNG and Mr Yat Paol - Bismark Ramu Group, Madang. When: Monday, 5 September 2005, 6:00pm - 8:00pm Where: Gilbert + Tobin, 2 Park Street Sydney
"Many of us were totally surprised in 1999 to find our land had been registered. We only found out when foreigners started coming onto our land to log." Lester Seri, Maisin people, Collingwood Bay, Oro Province.
This seminar was part of a speaking tour organised by aid and environment watchdog AID/WATCH
>> Download the entire speaking tour program
The Israeli Supreme Court and the Protection of Human Rights in Times of Emergency:
Tea and seminar with Professor Eli Salzberger, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law at Haifa University
4pm – 5.30pm, 16 August 2005, UNSW Law Faculty Common Room
The Australian Human Rights Centre and the Gilbert & Tobin Centre of Public Law held an informal seminar with Professor Eli Salzberger, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law at Haifa University on the 16 August. Professor Salzberger, a prominent member of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and recognised as the foremost expert on Israel’s legal system, talked about the Israeli Supreme Court and the protection of human rights in times of emergency.
Briefing by the Hon David Coltart, Shadow Minister for Justice, Zimbabwe Hosted by the Australian Human Rights Centre Thursday 21 st July, 2:15pm, UNSW Law Faculty Common Room
On Thursday the 21st July the AHRC hosted an informal meeting with the Shadow Minister for Justice, Zimbabwe. The Hon David Coltart visited Australia as part of the Bond University/Baker McKenzie Distinguished Visitors Program and the AHRC hosted an informal meeting with him for a briefing on current developments in Zimbabwe followed by questions and discussion. He was accompanied by Duncan Bentley, the Dean of the Law Faculty at Bond University. Read more
Challenging Impunity: Human Rights Violations, Displacement of Indigenous Communities and Corporate Responsibility in Colombia
On Wednesday 25th May 2005 the Australian Human Rights Centre hosted a seminar featuring Debora Barros Fince, an indigenous leader from the Wayuu community in Colombia. Ms. Barros spoke of the massacre which took place in her community on April 15, 2004 which left 12 Wayuu killed, 20 missing and more than 300 displaced from the land they had occupied for more than 500 years. Ms. Barros is currently seeking legal redress for what she described as the failure of the Colombian government to properly investigate the killings and was in Sydney to tell her story and seek answers. Rosemary Jimenez, a Colombian journalist also addressed the seminar and spoke of the intractable problems of pursuing redress in the Colombian legal system.
Read more
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