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Children's Rights
10 October 2014Opinion pieceIt's time to strengthen our surrogacy laws to help protect children
NATIONWIDE regulations are urgently needed to cover situations when Australians are engaging surrogates to have children for them. The range of assisted reproductive technologies available today presents many legal, moral and ethical challenges. These are challenges we can no longer ignore and require national, state and international leadership. In Australia, altruistic surrogacy is… -
Rights and Freedoms
10 April 2013PublicationHomelessness is a Human Rights Issue
This paper explores the many ways that homelessness impacts on a person’s ability to enjoy basic rights and freedoms. It shows that homelessness is more than just a housing issue. Homelessness is about human rights. Homeless people are not merely objects of charity, seeking help and compassion – like all Australians, they are individuals entitled to the protection and promotion of their human… -
14 December 2012Book page
Homelessness is a Human Rights Issue (2008)
Access to safe and secure housing is one of the most basic human rights. However, homelessness is not just about housing. Fundamentally, homelessness is about lack of connectedness with family, friends and the community and lack of control over one’s environment. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
12 May 2014WebpageNon-discrimination and equality
The only instance that differential treatment is acceptable is when it undertaken to attempt to secure substantive equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. -
14 December 2012Book page
The Human Rights of Rural Australians
Human rights are universal. This means they apply to all people wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. People living in rural areas have an equal entitlement to human rights as those people who live in urban areas. However, for rural Australians, the full enjoyment of their human rights can sometimes be problematic. The reasons for this are many and varied. They include issues of… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
5 May 2021Media ReleaseMedia Statement: Federal Court improves pathways to protection for more than a thousand asylum seekers taken to Ashmore reef
More than 1,000 asylum seekers have a greater ability to apply for protection in Australia following a landmark judgment by the Federal Court on Tuesday. “When a person seeks asylum in Australia, it’s vital that their application be processed quickly, fairly and transparently. This judgment will remove administrative barriers for a vulnerable group of people who have been waiting too long to… -
Rights and Freedoms
13 February 2017Opinion piece
OPCAT could revolutionise Australia's treatment of detainees
The federal government has announced it will ratify and implement the OPCAT treaty . Few people will have heard of OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture). It creates no new legal rights. Yet it could be the single most positive step this decade in improving conditions in all Australian places of detention. OPCAT will enhance how independent bodies inspect places of… -
Sex Discrimination
9 February 2023News storyParliament's improved workplace culture is an example for others
After years of headlines about the toxic workplace culture at Federal Parliament, codes of conduct will for the first time apply to all parliamentarians and staffers. -
Children's Rights
30 June 2014Speech
Presentation to the ANZCDR&PG Annual Meeting by Megan Mitchell
Insights into the key human rights issues facing children and young people by the National Children's Commissioner. -
LGBTIQ+
8 April 2014SpeechSDA Amendments
Australian Public Service Human Rights Network -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
27 July 2017Speech
National Suicide Prevention Conference
Acknowledgements and Intro [Introduction in Bunuba] Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Yagara a yani u. Balangarri wadjirragali jarra ningi – gamali ngindaji yau muwayi nyirrami yarrangi thangani. Yaningi miya ngindaji Muwayi ingga winyira ngarragi thangani. Yathawarra, wilalawarra jalangurru ngarri guda. J Ngindaji ngay walyayi thangani u nyana thangani u + mindija I stand… -
Children's Rights
13 March 2013Webpage
Web Links
National Children's Commissioner legislation Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) The United Nations UN Convention on the Rights of the Child UNICEF child-friendly Convention on the Rights of the Child UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Offices of the state and territory Children's Commissioners and Guardians Office of the Children's Guardian New South Wales Commission for … -
14 December 2012Book page
Social Justice Report 2005 :
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, has issued a challenge to Australian governments to address Indigenous health inequality and inequality of opportunity through a new campaign outlined in this year"s Social Justice Report. -
Rights and Freedoms
14 June 2017Speech
Sydney Town Hall: Australians of the Year 2017
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Sydney Town Hall: Australians of the Year 2017 It is wonderful to see so many of you here tonight to celebrate these four great Australians of the year and to learn about their vision for human rights in the future. Thank you to the Australia Day Council for the chance to speak to you all … for this is my last public speech before stepping down as President of the AHRC… -
14 December 2012Book page
A last resort? - Summary Guide: Temporary Protection Visas
Following a successful application for asylum, children - either individually or as part of their family group - are generally released from detention into the community on a three-year temporary protection visa (TPV). -
Rights and Freedoms
3 February 2016Opinion piece
Logic says Valizadeh shouldn't get a visa
Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh’s freedom of speech won’t be suppressed if the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, denies him a visa. In the past few days there have been increasing calls on the Federal Government to block so-called ‘neo-masculinist’ Valizadeh from entering Australia. Outraged politicians have called for him to be denied a visa. Online petitions have been set up to “let the NSW… -
Children's Rights
21 October 2015Opinion piece
The human rights of children are at risk if control orders are placed on 14-year-olds
On Tuesday this week Attorney-General George Brandis foreshadowed extending laws concerning control orders to fourteen- and fifteen-year-old children. Brandis said the fact that a 15-year-old boy had been inspired to perform a terrorist act demonstrated that the reach of Islamic State and IS surrogates and agents in Australia is extending to people younger and younger. In announcing the… -
Rights and Freedoms
12 October 2015Opinion piece
Why Geert Wilders should be allowed to visit Australia
Our borders should not be used to control access to unpopular ideas, and in the internet age such efforts are futile. According to reports, Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan has advised the Prime Minister not to grant a visa to controversial Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, using the example of denying a visa to American musician Chris Brown as precedent. Chris Brown's convictions… -
14 December 2012Book page
Commission Website: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
This submission examines a child's right to a nationality and Australia's protection of that right. Of special interest is the position of children born in mandatory detention to parents who are both unlawful non-citizens. [1] The submission addresses the first term of reference for the inquiry, by exploring Australia's obligations in this area and discussing whether such obligations are… -
Commission – General
14 December 2012Webpage
Cyberbullying
If you are being bullied and need support, it is important that you read this factsheet and go to the Get Help section. If you know or see someone being bullied go to the Supportive Bystander FactSheet to find out how to help them. Cyberbullying is bullying that is done through the use of technology. For example, using the Internet, a mobile phone or a camera to hurt or embarrass…