Human Rights
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What Ministers should do – Human Rights in the election
Human rights experts have welcomed Labor’s plan to restore merit appointments to the Australian Human Rights Commission, and to appoint a global ambassador for human rights. Nine years of partisan ‘captain’s picks’ by the Coalition government have shredded the Commission’s impartiality and subdued its voice as a champion of the vulnerable. Its funding has also Continue reading »
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Political appointments and downgrading the Australian Human Rights Commission
The international standards body on human rights has found that the Australian Human Rights Commission should be downgraded in its standing. Continue reading »
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Jacob Hornberger: Why not joint war crimes trials?
The U.S. mainstream media is calling for the criminal prosecution of Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian military personnel, for war crimes committed as part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading »
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Israel and apartheid
Readers will be aware that earlier this year Amnesty International released a report which made a determination that Israel was an apartheid State. The report was titled ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians, a Cruel System of Domination and a Crime Against Humanity’. Continue reading »
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Herbert Wulf: Double standards
War criminals must be held accountable. But this rule of law is universal. And it is precisely those who emphasise the rules-based international order that should strictly adhere to these rules themselves. Continue reading »
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Is it people with disability or people with disabilities
The term “people with disability” as it is so often used when discussion turns to the “rights” of people sounds misleading and incorrect to me. Continue reading »
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Rodney Lewis -The Morrison Government is proposing astounding discrimination against vulnerable aged care residents
When our Parliament is presented with a Bill which removes fundamental rights and liberties of a discrete cohort of Australians only, a cacophony of objections may be expected. In this case however, the victims have no voice. Continue reading »
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Double standards by the International Criminal Court
Are the people of Ukraine more worthy and valuable than the people of Yemen? Continue reading »
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One SWIFT motion and the Israeli occupation is over
Imagine that Israel is invading the Gaza Strip once more. The usual killing, destruction and ruin. Continue reading »
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Presumption of innocence under threat
A citizen’s inalienable right to her or his day in court has increasingly become seen as a quaint frivolity by some and a waste of time by many more – but the presumption of innocence is coming under some threat in Australia. Continue reading »
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UKRAINE: Open Letter from Russian international relations staff and students
Below is the text of an open letter to President Putin protesting the invasion of Ukraine from students, alumni and staff of Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO), Russia’s elite institution specialising in international relations. Continue reading »
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Tokenism against racism in the US helps hide an Inconvenient Global Scourge
The decision of US President Biden to announce that he would replace the outgoing Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer by a black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson may seem like a positive step in a country wracked by explicit and systemic racism. Continue reading »
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Raymond Tint Way and Paul A. Komesaroff. Australia and the international community must respond to the brutality of Myanmar’s Junta
Over the last year the world has watched in horror as the Myanmar army, after its attempted coup on February 1st 2021, has carried out brutal massacres, torture, rape and arbitrary arrest of the democratically elected government and civilian population Continue reading »
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Apartheid state: the judgment of the world is turning against Israel
Amnesty International has accused Israel of apartheid, and the Jewish state’s actions against the Palestinians are attracting increasing criticism. Continue reading »
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Australia’s structural cruelty goes beyond refugee policy
Australia’s reprehensible treatment of refugees now goes beyond cruelty, and instead could be described as evil. Continue reading »
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Confronting racism: the white privilege embedded in our institutions
The world is not equal or democratic when the rich and powerful who set standards, norms and rules are mostly white. Continue reading »
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Oh what a lovely pandemic, if you can afford your own spaceship
The yawning gap between the wealth of the world’s 10 richest men and the people at the bottom has exacerbated the deaths from COVID-19. Continue reading »
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Vale Desmond Tutu: a teacher of the powerful and voice of the downtrodden
The South African archbishop and activist, who has died at 90, treated both pauper and sovereign with equal dignity and honour. Continue reading »
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Australia maintains its sanctimonious stance on human rights
The diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics is just the latest example of Australia’s rank hypocrisy in criticising rights abuses by other nations. Continue reading »
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Bad sport: harsh training regimes amount to human rights abuses
The International Olympic Committee should step up to protect athletes from brutal treatment while training for elite competition. Continue reading »
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Christmas spirit missing in Israeli variants of cruelty
In the spirit of Christmas and with a touch of courage, the Israel lobby should be shunned and the malicious treatment of Palestinians condemned. Continue reading »
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Assange extradition would have ‘dangerous implications’ for journalism
The secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders called on the US and UK governments to “stop to this more than decade-long persecution once and for all”. Continue reading »
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No justice for Julian Assange, but plenty of cruelty
Julian Assange’s pending extradition to the US allowed the Australian government a chance to show some ticker by demanding his freedom. Continue reading »
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Richest 1% takes 38% of global wealth while bottom half gets 2%
Global inequities in wealth and income are as great today as they were at the peak of Western imperialism in the early 20th century. Continue reading »
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Justice denied: the judicial kidnapping of Julian Assange
If Julian Assange is extradited to the US, his life is at stake and, if we remain silent, so is our very humanity, John Pilger writes. Continue reading »
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Australian government must intervene on Julian Assange’s behalf
When Australia allows the US’s pursuit of Julian Assange to continue, it tells Australians that it does not care about a free press. Continue reading »
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Why does Australia still sell weapons to human-rights abuser Saudi Arabia?
As the kingdom wages war in Yemen, Canberra continues to supply arms, making us complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians, writes Dechlan Brennan. Continue reading »
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Covid diagnosis delays intellectually disabled man’s execution — again
Diagnosed with COVID-19, a man on death row in Singapore has been given another stay of execution, allowing international outcry to grow louder. Continue reading »
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Not in our name: Australia’s tacit support for Palestinian apartheid
Australia’s abstention from a United Nations vote on protection of natural resources in Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights from Israeli exploitation has been condemned. Continue reading »
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Balancing diplomacy and direct action in ‘Magnitsky Act’ sanctions
Sponsored by a Labor senator and finessed by DFAT, a bill for a “Magnitsky Act” to sanction human rights abuses is poised to be tabled in Parliament. Continue reading »
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