The Australian Human Rights Centre (AHRC) is located in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. Its predecessor, the Human Rights Centre, was established in 1986 to coordinate and develop inter-disciplinary teaching and research in the area of human rights, with a particular focus on Asia and the Pacific. During the first decade of its existence, the Centre organised a series of seminars, workshops, public lectures and occasional publications. In June 1995 the Human Rights Centre received funding from the Federal Attorney General's Department to establish a national human rights database and documentation centre. The Human Rights Centre was renamed the Australian Human Rights Centre to reflect the development of a national database and documentation centre.

The ratification by Australia of international human rights treaties and the acceptance of individual communications procedures such as the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, have accentuated the need for information and advice on international procedures for the prevention of discrimination and the protection of human rights. International human rights standards and procedures for their enforcement are not widely understood in Australia, either within government and the legal profession or within the broader NGO and general community.

Concern over the inadequacy of public access to human rights information was expressed in the Vienna Declaration, adopted by the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, as well as in Australia's subsequent 1994 National Action Plan. The National Action Plan identified the need for an effective and efficient means of informing Australian citizens about the complaint mechanisms provided for in human rights instruments.

In response to the National Action Plan, the Human Rights Centre submitted to the Attorney-General’s Department that the creation of a national human rights data-base and documentation centre would be an important step in making the procedures and jurisprudence of these bodies better known and understood in Australia. It was submitted that such a centre would enhance the ability of Australians to monitor the conformity of domestic practice with international treaty obligations. It would also allow individuals to pursue their rights, upon exhaustion of domestic remedies, under international communications procedures. There was a need for such a centre to provide access to up-to-date documentation, research and information on human rights and to provide a resource for lawyers, educators, researchers and advocates in matters relating to human rights law and practice. As a result of this submission, the Human Rights Centre (later AHRC) received core funding from the Attorney-General’s Department.

The 1996 report of the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee, Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth Power to Implement Treaties, also identified the need to increase the availability of information about treaties. The Report quoted from a submission by the Australian Human Rights Centre concerning the need for the procedures and jurisprudence of the human rights treaty bodies to be better known and understood throughout Australia.

The need to improve access to education and information on human rights has received increased recognition in recent times. Acknowledgment of the desirability of increasing awareness of human rights worldwide prompted the United Nations General Assembly to proclaim 1995-2004 as the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education. In August 1996 AHRC, together with the Diplomacy Training Program, organised a Workshop on Asia-Pacific Human Rights Education. The Workshop stated that:

In February 1996, the Australian Human Rights Centre adopted a Charter which identified the following objectives:

1. The Australian Human Rights Centre will seek to increase public awareness about human rights procedures, standards and issues within the Asia-Pacific region.
2. AHRC will provide accessible information on human rights to the general public, NGOs, government departments, human rights advocates, community legal centres, journalists, educators, researchers and students.
3. AHRC will maintain a comprehensive collection of human rights documentation, provide an on-line database service, undertake research and prepare publications, organise human rights educational activities and, within available resources, respond to requests for advice in the area of human rights.

Related institutions include the Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Philippines, Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program, Colombia University’s Center for Human Rights, University of Essex’ Centre for International Human Rights Law, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, Danish Center of Human Rights, Abo Akademi Institute of Human Rights (Finland), Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Lund, Sweden), Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (Vienna), Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.

The Director is responsible for the forward planning and policy development of AHRC. The Director supervises employees and volunteers and manages the overall administration of the Centre. Previous Directors have included Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim, Professor Patricia Hyndman and Ass Professor George Zdenkowski. The current Director is Dr Sarah Pritchard. The position of Director is an honorary one and the responsibilities associated with the Centre are in addition to the Director’s other academic and professional commitments.

AHRC has engaged a number of research personnel on a project by project basis. Currently, AHRC employs one part time researcher Ms Tulsi van de Graaff.

AHRC relies heavily upon the support of staff and student volunteers from the University of New South Wales to carry out all aspects of its work. These are involved in production of the Centre’s main publications – the Human Rights Defender and the Australian Journal of Human Rights – as well as occasional conferences, cataloguing of documentation and fund-raising.

The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) has provided assistance to AHRC in the creation of a home-page (12 February 1996) and in the placement of documentation on the Internet. Under the supervision of AustLII Co-Director Professor Graham Greenleaf, a number of part-time officers have been employed to maintain the AHRC homepage and database. The current AustLII officers are Mr David Irvine and Ms Siobhan McCann.

Whilst located in the Faculty of Law, AHRC has a multidisciplinary Management Committee, drawing on expertise form the legal and social sciences and humanities. The Management Committee is responsible for pursuing the objectives of AHRC and reviewing its activities. The Management Committee is also responsible for financial matters. Its membership currently includes:

• Ms Jane Corpuz-Brock - Director of the Diplomacy Training Program
• Associate Professor Braham Dabscheck (Industrial Relations)
• Dr Barry Dyster (Economics)
• Dr Barbara Ferguson (Social Work)
• Dr Damian Grace (Social Work)
• Dr Michael Humphrey (Sociology)
• Ms Melinda Jones (Law) - Editor of the Australian Journal of Human Rights

• Dr David Kinley (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission)
• Dr Peter Kriesler (Economics) - Deputy Director
• Ms Anne Martin – Director of the Aboriginal Education Program
• Ms Anne McNaughton (International Business)
• Associate Professor Fedor Mediansky (International Relations)
• Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim (Law) - Chairperson
• Ms Tracey Newlands (New College Institute of Values Research)
• Dr Sarah Pritchard (Law) - Director
• Professor Paul Redmond (Dean, Law)
• Ms Jane Reid
• Dr John Squires (New College Institute of Values Research)
• Associate Professor George Zdenkowski (Law)

The Advisory Council comprises the Director of AHRC (ex officio), the Chairperson of the Management Committee (ex officio), representatives of appropriate agencies and organisations, as well as individual experts with distinguished reputations and/or experience relevant to the activities of the Centre. The Advisory Council will provide guidance to the Director and Management Committee in matters of policy, advocacy and representation, and expert advice in particular areas within the Centre’s Charter. An inaugural meeting of the Advisory Council will be held on 26 May 1998. Membership includes:

• Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim (Law) - Chairperson - ex officio
• Dr Sarah Pritchard (Law) – Director – ex officio

• Mr Ron Castan QC, Owen Dixon Chambers
• Mr Michael Costello, Deputy Managing Director, Australian Stock Exchange
• Mr Michael Dodson, Director, Indigenous Law Centre, University of New South Wales
• The Hon Dr Elizabeth Evatt AC
• Mr Peter Garrett
• Ms Kate Harrison, Partner, Gilbert and Tobin
• Professor Roger Layton, Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Economics, University of New South Wales
• Mr Adrian O’Keefe, Managing Partner, Arthur Anderson Australia
• Dr Jose Ramos-Horta
• Ms Patricia Turner AM, former Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

AHRC has developed important industry linkages with other national and international research bodies, end-user groups and the wider community. The Centre currently has links with, amongst others, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), AusAID, Australian Forum of Human Rights Organisations (AFHRO), Australian Law Reform Commission, Asylum Seekers Inter-Agency Committee, Australian Institute of Police Management, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Council for Overseas Aid, Disability Discrimination Law Centre, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Intellectual Disability Rights Centre, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, International Commission of Jurists (Australian Section), Law Society of New South Wales, National Children and Youth Law Centre, New South Wales Department of Corrective Services, New South Wales Judicial Commission, UNIYA, University of Minnesota Human Rights Centre and University of the Philippines Human Rights Law Centre.

AHRC's documentation centre is located in the Law Library at the University of New South Wales. The Centre aims to be accessible to the public during library opening hours. Due to financial constraints, however, the hours of opening are largely dependent on the goodwill of volunteers and the limited hours in which the coordinators are at the Centre.

AHRC plans to develop a core collection of human rights documentation, including primary United Nations, regional and Australian documentation, as well as relevant secondary materials. At present, AHRC receives all UN and Council of Europe human rights documentation, publications and newsletters. The Centre houses a modest collection of international human rights bibliographies, international instruments (official texts and interpretative materials), directories, resource guides, resources for teaching, general reference works, serials (journals, yearbooks, newsletters and bulletins) and annual reports on the status of human rights worldwide. In addition, the Centre collects materials relating to particular human rights issues, such as children’s rights, women’s rights, rights of indigenous peoples, racial discrimination, religious freedom, economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development. The Centre also seeks to acquire documentation relating to Asia-Pacific human rights issues and regional arrangements for the protection and promotion of human rights.

AHRC is privileged to have received a comprehensive collection of international human rights materials donated by the Hon Dr Justice Elizabeth Evatt AC. This material is the process of being catalogued.

AustLII provides the facilities and technical assistance for AHRC to maintain a human rights database accessible on the World Wide Web. AustLII ensures that its staff members involved with the AHRC collaboration have sufficient knowledge of the field of human rights so that they are able to assist with the development of the database. AustLII also provides AHRC with a mailing list facility so that members of the AHRC Management Committee are able to keep in contact with one another as well as to ease the process of circulating minutes of meetings etc.

At present the AHRC site provides access to the full text of the more significant human rights instruments. It also provides access to a number of complex pre-defined searches of the AustLII database for references to the various instruments to all users, regardless of level of computer literacy. Also available are the full texts of nearly 200 of the Decisions and Views of the UN Human Rights Committee and the General Comments of most UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. All of this information is available in full text and is fully searchable. As an example of AHRC’s involvement in current events, the AHRC site was the first in the world to publish the Views of the Human Rights Committee in A v Australia (Communication No. 560/1993). These were available on line within 24 hours of publication by the Committee. This generated significant levels of publicity - domestic and international - for the activities of AHRC and the Internet Site. Added to this material are a number of links to the documentation of UN Treaty and Charter-based bodies with some general description of particular bodies. In some instances it has been possible to link decisions, sessional reports and other documents related to particular bodies. AustLII has attempted to gain access to this material to enable it to be published on the AHRC website but has, as yet, with limited success. AustLII staff are continually seeking new sources to help obtain this data in electronic format.

The AHRC website also provides access to the Guide to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR published by AHRC. This provides information on making a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee and includes a Model Communication. The site also contains the full text of a number of issues of the Human Rights Defender and a sample version of an edition of the Australian Journal of Human Rights ready to send 'live'. This, and further, issues of the Human Rights Defender, are awaiting copyright approvals. A section of the site is reserved for Australian Developments, allowing the posting of relevant new materials. AHRC also benefits from the location of complementary resources on AustLII (such as the Australian Treaties Library and the Reconciliation and Social Justice Library, and the concentration of expertise in human-rights-related fields that this brings.

In the area of research and publications, UNSW staff associated with the AHRC are recognised as amongst the leading human rights researchers in Australia. Current areas of research include industrial relations and human rights; the space of terror; economy and social rights; human rights and Australia’s foreign relations; the international jurisprudence of human rights; international indigenous rights developments.

Since 1992 the Centre has awarded an annual prize for the best human rights essay submitted by an undergraduate student at the University of New South Wales. The NSW Labour Council provides the prize of $400.00. The winning essay, selected by an inter-disciplinary committee of UNSW academics, is published in the Australian Journal of Human Rights.

The Australian Journal of Human Rights is Australia’s first academic journal exclusively devoted to the publication of articles, commentary, casenotes and book reviews about human rights issues. The AJHR aims to raise Australian awareness of human rights issues by providing a forum for discussion of human rights developments in the Australasian region. The Journal is written for lawyers, philosophers, legislators, sociologists, political scientists and academics. It combines legal aspects of human rights with philosophical, historical, economic and political analysis. It also contains notes on the impact of particular legal decisions. The AJHR is published under the supervision of the Editor, Melinda Jones, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law. Its Patrons are the Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC, Professor Philip Alston and Father Frank Brennan SJ AO

The Human Rights Defender is a quarterly human rights bulletin, published jointly by the Diplomacy Training Program and the Australian Human Rights Centre. Its primary objective is to present information and comment on a broad range of current issues in human rights. It also seeks to provide a platform for the expression of critical thinking and the discussion of conceptual developments in human rights.

The Defender aims to highlight issues not covered in mainstream media and other human rights publications. It has a particular interest in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights of women and children, economic and social rights, and development and environment issues. Regular features include articles, commentaries, World Round-Up, recent publications and accounts of the activities of the Diplomacy Training Program and AHRC. The Human Rights Defender is produced by staff and student volunteers associated with the Diplomacy Training Program and AHRC.

AHRC also publishes occasional papers and conference proceedings. These have included:

• The Racial Discrimination Act: A Review (proceedings of conference organised by AHRC/Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, August 1995)
• Communicating with the Human Rights Committee: A Guide to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Sarah Pritchard/Naomi Sharp, July 1996)
• Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations and Human Rights (Ed Sarah Pritchard (Federation Press/Zed Books 1998); proceedings of conference organised by AHRC/Indigenous Law Centre, June 1995)
• Human Rights Protection in Australia (authors Sarah Pritchard/Katherine Mogg; commissioned by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, January 1998; possibly to be republished jointly with the Australian Section of Amnesty International as a project to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Currently ready for publication are:

• A Guide to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (authors Sarah Pritchard/Sandrine Rodrigues/Naomi Sharp)
• Plain Language Version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.(author Jane Reid)

In progress are:

• Handbook on Human Rights and the Administration of Justice (with the Law Foundation of New South Wales; Sarah Pritchard/Jane Reid/Robert Wynn Jones)
• Human Rights Teachers and Students Kits (Peta Pellach-Jones/Julia Grix)
• A Guide to Asia-Pacific National Human Rights Institutions (with the Human rights Institute of the International Bar Association; Christopher de Bono/Tulsi van de Graaff

The Australian Human Rights Centre has been involved in a range of public educational activities. These have included:

The Centre organises occasional lectures by prominent human rights activists, lawyers and thinkers, including Professor Philip Alston, Jean-Marie Tjibaou (former FLNKS leader), Justice Michael Kirby and Geoffrey Robertson QC.

AHRC works closely with the Diplomacy Training Program (DTP), also located in the Faculty of Law. The DTP was founded in 1989 by Jose Ramos-Horta and Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim to assist human rights defenders from the South in the effective utilisation of the United Nations system and other international fora. It is the leading provider of human rights education to non-governmental organisations and other sectors of civil society in the Asia-Pacific region. The DTP curriculum and training methods are internationally acclaimed. Through its Director, Dr Sarah Pritchard, a member of the DTP Board of Directors, and Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim, AHRC contributes to DTP training activities and provides advice on curriculum development. Current DTP Director, Jane Corpuz-Brock, is a member of the Management Committee of AHRC.

There is also close collaboration between AHRC and the Indigenous Law Centre (ILC). AHRC Chairperson Emeritus Professor Garth Nettheim is also Chairperson of the Management Committee of the ILC. Anne Martin and Sarah Pritchard are members of the Management Committees of both Centres. A collaborative project was the convening of a conference on UN Human Rights Procedures and Indigenous Australians, 28-30 June 1995. The conference received funding from the Aboriginal Education Program, ATSIC, Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Central Land Council, Kimberley Land Council and Northern Land Council. Speakers included Professor Philip Alston, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Mick Dodson, the Hon Dr Elizabeth Evatt AC, Professor Garth Nettheim, Dr Michael O’Flaherty (former Secretary, UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) and Sarah Pritchard.

A conference jointly organised with the Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, in the Faculty of Law, August 1995.

A workshop jointly organised with the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, March 1996. Proceedings to be published in the Australian Journal of Human Rights.

The Workshop on Asia-Pacific Human Rights Education 22-25 August 1996 was organised by AHRC and the Diplomacy Training Program. Educators and representatives of human rights non-governmental organisations from Bangladesh, Burma, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Thailand, as well as Australia, met in Sydney to discuss the main tasks of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) in the Asia-Pacific region. The Workshop received funding from AusAID, the Inter-Church Organisation for Development Cooperation (The Netherlands) and the Commonwealth Foundation (London).

On UNSW Open Day 1996 the Centre organised a simulation of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in the University’s Council Chambers. The simulation was chaired by Dr Elizabeth Evatt AC, from 1984 to 1992 a member and subsequently Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and since 1992 a member of the UN Human Rights Committee. The simulation was based upon the facts of Toonen v Australia, the first case the subject of a successful communication to the Human Rights Committee after the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights came into force for Australian on 25 December 1991.

Strategies Against Racism, a working forum to combat racism, was initiated and coordinated by AHRC in collaboration with the Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW. The aims of the Forum were:

• to develop concrete strategies to fight racism and promote racial harmony;
• to facilitate networking amongst community groups involved in combating racism and to share resources and information
• to empower community groups by assisting them to strengthen their capacity to fight racism
• to promote the principle of non-discrimination as a central value in Australian society
• to affirm Australia’s commitment to international human rights processes

The Forum was attended by 120 representatives of community organisations and anti-discrimination and equal opportunity bodies across Australia. A Statement of Participants was adopted, specifying action in areas such as law and policy, education, media and advocacy and community action. Speakers included His Excellency Gordon Samuels AO, Governor of New South Wales; Aden Ridgeway, Director, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council; Frank Brennan SJ; John Basten QC; Professor Mary Kalantzis; Police Commissioner Ryan; Lex Marinos; Liz Jackson; Rebecca Peters; and the Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner Zita Antonios.

During the consolidation phase made possible through the provision of funding by the Attorney General’s Department in 1995, AHRC demonstrated its capacity to design and set up a human rights documentation centre and database. The Centre elaborated a Charter, secured premises in the Law Library, established a homepage and database, and commenced a comprehensive program of documentation acquisition. It maintained and diversified the Centre’s research and publications and undertook some major community education activities.

Whilst staff members have been periodically employed to carry out a variety of tasks, the Centre remains dependent upon the good will of volunteer staff and students. With the exhaustion of the funding provided by the Attorney-General’s Department, and no likelihood of further funding from this source, the Centre needs to raise external funds for the core aspects of its operations.

AHRC aims to consolidate and expand its acquisitions program. It will continue to develop its collection of international human rights bibliographies, directories, resource guides, resources for teaching, general reference works, annual reports on the status of human rights worldwide, and international instruments (both official texts and interpretive materials). AHRC will seek to increase its domestic and international subscription base to human rights journals, yearbooks, newsletters and bulletins.

During the next phase, AHRC proposes to ensure that its holds all key UN human rights documents, in particular, those of the UN human rights treaty bodies. AHRC also plans to continue its acquisition of other regional human rights documentation. The Centre will need to refine its current systems for classifying, cataloguing, indexing and securing materials. In order to improve efficiency, the purchase of specialised computer software programs will be necessary. In addition, it is envisaged that AHRC personnel will receive specialised training in human rights documentation and information handling.

During the next phase, AHRC intends to improve the amount and quality of human rights information disseminated via the AHRC web site. The Centre aspires to become a leader in the provision of accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date human rights information through the internet. AHRC is committed to the ongoing maintenance of its homepage. This entails a continual review of links, information and materials relevant to human rights. In order to increase the range of documents available through the web site, considerable scanning work will be required. In addition, AHRC plans, in collaboration, with AustLII, to further develop embedded treaty and subject searches and to create a "Human Rights Library" on the net.

Worldsearch.html) facilities. The approach being taken is that of a limited area search engine with subject-specific ‘Libraries’, a new approach to internet legal research. The development of a Human Rights Library would consist of the following steps:

A selection of major human rights sites on the net are already indexed at http://www.austlii.edu.au/links/World/Subject_Index/Human_Rights/ , and World Law Search already searches the full text of many thousands of pages of human rights sites around the world (try a search for the expression ‘human rights’ or any more precise topic to test both the scope and precision of the results). However, a separate ‘Human Rights Library’ has not yet been built, but examples of the approach can be seen in the Legislation Library and the Legal Indexes Library.

AustLII and AHRC do not have resources for the further development of AHRC or the Human Rights Library beyond the end of financial year 1997/98.

AHRC hopes to play an important role in the interdisciplinary development of human rights research and publications, in Australia, the region and internationally. AHRC has hosted a number of human rights researchers from the region and Europe. The Centre is keen to formalise a regional academic exchange program in order to foster intra-regional cross-cultural dialogue on human rights issues.

AHRC also plans to continue production of a series of general monographs on the human rights instruments to which Australia is a party, as well as specific monographs providing information to particular community groups about their rights and the protection available under international procedures. AHRC will continue to publish occasional papers on significant human rights issues in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the proceedings of conferences, seminars and workshops. AHRC’s publications could be expanded to include an Australian Yearbook of Human Rights, and Australian Human Rights Reporter/Digest of Australian Human Rights Law, as well as collaborative yearbooks and publications with other research institutions.

The Centre could seek to coordinate a National School of Human Rights Research to bring together prominent researchers within the legal and social sciences and to coordinate joint research. A PhD program could offer candidates opportunities to present research, exchange views with experts and fellow candidates.

AHRC is currently in the process of preparing human rights materials for use in secondary schools. In addition, the Centre has plans to design human rights training programs for stakeholders in the area of human rights, commencing with the development of in-service training workshops for secondary school teachers. Tailored training programs will provide practical human rights education for government officials, statutory authorities, non-governmental organisations, law enforcement officials (police, armed forces, prison officers), judges, magistrates, lawyers, health-workers teachers and journalists.

Within the University of New South Wales, there is potential for the development of:

• multi-disciplinary undergraduate teaching programs

• diploma courses and training programs, on and off-shore, using the Continuing Legal Education Unit and the Diplomacy Training Program as vehicles
• a one year LL.M in international a human rights law (similar to that offered by the University of Essex)
• an annual University level study session with particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region (similar to the annual study session of there Strasbourg- based International Institute of Human Rights)
• intensive courses in University human rights teaching (intensive study and training to improve the quality of human rights teaching and research at the University level

AHRC has made vigorous attempts efforts to secure funding for the ongoing administration of the Centre itself, as well as for other specific activities and projects. Applications for funding and other forms of collaboration have been sent to relevant government departments, agencies, foundations and non-governmental organisations within Australia and overseas.

The Centre has had some success in raising funding for specific projects. In this connection, modest amounts of funding have been provided by ATSIC, AusAID, Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Australian Research Council, Attorney General’s Department, Commonwealth Foundation (London), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Inter-Church Organisation for Development Cooperation (The Netherlands), Law Foundation of New South Wales, Midnight Oil and the Sunshine Foundation. Despite some success in securing funding for specific projects, the Centre requires modest core funding to plan and develop a coherent program of activities in the area of research and publications, and education and advisory services. Such funding would enable the Centre to develop a forward-looking, cutting edge, internationally competitive research and publications agenda and act as a focus of national research and publications. This would underpin the Centre’s teaching activities and include a long-term agenda with priority themes and broad guidelines, as well as short-term research projects.

To date, AHRC has been without any success in its attempts to secure ongoing core funding for staff and administration. Despite the submission of a number of elaborate proposals to agencies in Australia and overseas, there appears to be little interest in funding the core operations of a centre such as AHRC. Overseas agencies express surprise that there is no funding available within Australia for such a centre.

It is increasingly difficult for the voluntary Directors of AHRC to discharge the considerable research, policy development, administrative, fund-raising and supervisory responsibilities associated with the Centre. If the Centre is to develop, it will be necessary to employ a (preferably full-time) Director to undertake major forward-planning and policy development, to promote the Centre to users, and to assume responsibility for the day-to-day administration and supervision of volunteers. It is also necessary to employ a qualified librarian, with specialized training in human rights documentation and information handling, to undertake classifying, cataloguing, abstracting and indexing of documentation.

In addition, funding is needed to maintain the documentation centre and database. We are surprised that it has been so difficult to raise funding for a centre which seeks to ensure that all key human rights documentation is held in one central, accessible location. The capacity of AHRC to capture essential human rights information and facilitate access to it through one centralised home-page on the internet significantly reduces expense and inefficiency in searching the net and makes human rights information accessible throughout Australia.

AHRC has recently discussed seeking to strengthen its association with business and professional bodies, major national and international philanthropic organisations, and with the United Nations Development Program, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT JANUARY 1997 – MAY 1998

2. ADMINISTRATION

1. Purchase materials/subscriptions 10,000.00
2. Cataloguing/securing 4,000.00
3. Software packages 860.00
4. Scanning 2,000.00
5. Telecommunications 2,000.00
6. Photocopying 2,000.00
7. Printing and stationery 5,00.000

With some core funding to enable the employment of a Director, AHRC could adopt strategies to enhance self-sustainability through the generation of funds from the following sources:

• fees from the development of undergraduate teaching programs
• fees from the provision of diploma courses and training programs, on and off-shore, using the Continuing Legal Education Unit and the Diplomacy Training Project as vehicles
• expansion of research programs through consultancies based on full cost recovery
• fostering further agreements between AHRC and overseas funding agencies for joint research projects (for example, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
• promoting and marketing activities to secure grants from government agencies, industry-end users and sponsorship

Sarah Pritchard

Director

Australian Human Rights Centre

20 May 1998