Human Rights
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Women’s rights in Afghanistan-a lost opportunity in the 1970s.
In Afghanistan today the US calls for the rights of women to be respected. But it was the US that acted in 1978 so that women’s rights would suffer…. Continue reading »
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Julian Assange and the culture of revenge
To lessen the macabre prospect of Julian Assange spending 175 years in a US maximum security prison, the US Department of Justice suggests that he could serve prison time in Australia. In a decades long tragedy, this latest act looks like nurture for an all consuming culture of revenge in which legal theatre has provided… Continue reading »
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The world is in a crisis of our own making – is it sowing the seeds of change?
The world is in a crisis. And many of our leaders are failing us. People are despondent, angry and sad, many unable to see their loved ones, many more not knowing how to cope. There is no end in sight, unless we look beyond the concreted corridors of power…. Continue reading »
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Key Assange accuser backs away from what he told US prosecutors
Why the reluctance of the Australian media to report on a significant development in the Assange case?… Continue reading »
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Fascism is alive in Australia
George Orwell wrote that almost any English person would accept bullying as a synonym for fascism. Political theorists refer to fascism as characterised by secrecy in government, by goals for national regeneration plus promotion of masculinity and derision of democracy…. Continue reading »
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Adventures in incompetence – Witness K sentenced
This whole farce is more about protecting the real criminals in the case, those politicians and public servants who devised and planned, enabled and financed the shameful act of spying on the Timorese people…. Continue reading »
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Two former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa join tsunami of ‘apartheid’ accusations against Israel
“It is time for the world to recognize that what we saw in South Africa decades ago is happening in Palestine… time for the world to take decisive diplomatic action… towards building a future of equality.”… Continue reading »
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Witness K: was his guilty plea coerced?
After years of suffering oppression, delays and injustice from his employer the Federal Government, Witness K, finally pleaded guilty before a closed court for disclosing classified Commonwealth material to his lawyer about Australia’s dirty antics against East Timor. Two days of sentencing hearing are set down for Thursday and Friday. But was his guilt plea… Continue reading »
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The Tamil family: cruelty beggars belief
The continued detention of the Tamil Biloela family, let alone the threat to deport them, confirms the government’s fascination with cruelty as policy. To demonstrate their bravery in defending Australia’s borders, Ministers think that to protect comfortable and fortunate Australians, they must show a wanton disregard of the interests of the powerless and vulnerable…. Continue reading »
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Detaining Refugees Indefinitely: The Executive v The Judiciary
Recently, a Federal Court Judge ordered the immediate release of a young man from immigration detention. The man had been in immigration detention for five years. The Federal Government wasn’t happy. It introduced legislation into the Commonwealth Parliament to make sure that no such release could happen again. The Government’s power to detain non-citizens indefinitely… Continue reading »
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Australian academics open letter in solidarity with Palestine and call for action
As scholars, academics and students in Australia, a settler colony built on the dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation and against Israeli settler colonialism. In the past month, Palestinians have faced brutal Israeli settler colonial violence in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of… Continue reading »
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Towards peace for Gaza by ending deceit
Following the ceasefire after the latest Gaza carnage, media commentary included claims that life in that besieged, bombarded strip could return to normal. This insulting observation is one more verbal absurdity in cowardly refusals to speak truths about the colonisation of Palestinians and cruelty towards them…. Continue reading »
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Abusive Israeli policies constitute crimes of apartheid, persecution
Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The finding is based on an overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem…. Continue reading »
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Democracy with Hong Kong characteristics
Hong Kong will hold elections to a newly enlarged Legislative Council in December. This is the first election held since Beijing enacted national security legislation for the territory in June 2020. It is doubtful that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy “pan-dems”, who dominated the former legislature, will win even a handful of seats. If they do, they… Continue reading »
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Killed and abandoned: the children of Afghanistan
US and Australian troops are preparing to leave Afghanistan with a debilitating legacy for millions of children. Simultaneous with news of troop withdrawals, Prime Minister Morrison has spoken of his taste for a laying on of hands as a means of healing. The children of Afghanistan would regard these events as at best confusing, and… Continue reading »
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Australia’s rejection of International Criminal Court decision on Palestine
On 5 February 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) accepted that Palestine is a State Party to the ICC Statute, based on Palestine’s acceptance of its jurisdiction, the lack of objection from other states at the time, and the recognition of Palestine as an Observer State by the United Nations General Assembly – the world’s… Continue reading »
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Labor makes another flimsy commitment to Palestinians
While Israel and Palestine are geographically distant, there’s no excuse for the Labor Party‘s out of touch support for a two-state solution, and for appearing unaware of critiques of the controversial Israeli supported definition of anti-Semitism. … Continue reading »
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Big opportunities for newly appointed Home Affairs Minister
The National Council of the St Vincent de Paul Society has welcomed the appointment of Karen Andrews to the Home Affairs portfolio, calling on her to release the Sri Lankan family from detention on Christmas Island as a matter of urgency…. Continue reading »
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The jilbab: human rights in Indonesia
An Indonesian woman appears before God who will pass judgement. The almighty checks the freshly-deceased’s CV, noting she prayed regularly at the mosque, recited the Koran and lived an upright life. However, she didn’t always wear a jilbab. For the sin of letting strangers see her glossy black locks, she’ll be condemned to the everlasting… Continue reading »
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Australia’s human rights failings seriously exposed
Every four years, all member states of the United Nations are required to submit their human rights record for review by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Australia had its turn in January this year. By any account, Australia’s record with respect to the protection of human rights remains relatively satisfactory. However, the recent interchange… Continue reading »
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Pope Francis apologises for war against Iraq, but will Australia?
During his recent visit to Iraq, Pope Francis revived hopes for deep reconciliation and renewed collaboration among the ancient religious traditions of that land, but he came as a ‘penitent’ and apologised for the invasion of Iraq and the resulting despoliation over 18 years. Australia was one of the few countries to join the USA… Continue reading »
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Reflections from the ’80s: the HIV epidemic in Myanmar
For the last three years off the fifteen I worked in the US my clinical life was consumed with setting up a unit at Yale University to study and treat patients with the mysterious Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the cause of which was eventually discovered to be a unique retro-virus called, logically enough, the… Continue reading »
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Australia has more to lose in a human rights ‘face off’ with China
China is stepping up human rights accusations against Australia following numerous condemnations Australia has made on the same grounds. Before intensifying criticisms of China’s human rights, Australia should recognize that this can be a double-edged sword…. Continue reading »
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Australia should stop blocking international justice in Israel and Palestine
The International Criminal Court last week handed down a historic ruling confirming that the court’s prosecutor has the power to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine…. Continue reading »
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People in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones
A group of Australian journalists in their never-ending hostility to China keep throwing stones at China for human rights breaches in Xinjiang, but largely ignore Australian and other breaches. Their ignorance of China explains a lot…. Continue reading »
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Colonial-type genocide in West Papua: living in constant fear
West Papuans are Indigenous people, easily ignored, their natural resources exploited, their homes and cultures destroyed, hundreds tortured, hundreds of thousands killed. Our media reports endlessly about genocide in remote Xinjiang but not about genocide in neighbouring West Papua. Why?… Continue reading »
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Sunday essay: The slave societies of the Persian Gulf
The glittering city-states of the Persian Gulf are built on modern slavery. Behind the gleaming skyscrapers, the world-class air-conditioned malls, the luxury tourist attractions and the opulent villas lie racism, misery, sexual abuse, violent exploitation, even death…. Continue reading »
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Australia’s ‘exceptional’ human rights record
Leaders who consider their country exceptional are less likely to acknowledge any shortcomings. In light of recent criticism of Australia’s human rights record, will our leaders feel so ashamed of being labelled exceptional that they will look to implement standards of common decency considered central to a fair-go culture?… Continue reading »
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Cruelty as policy in Australia and elsewhere: a short list of 2020s’ victims
Political cultures also foster sadism, justifying such behaviour by an alleged need to protect national security. And once specific population groups have been dehumanised, they become targets for cruelties…. Continue reading »
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