Human Rights
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The UN Human Rights report on Israel and Australia’s welcome statement
The UN special Human Rights investigation into Palestine/Israel which found Israel to be primarily responsible for ongoing unrest and violence received a strong rebuke from the US, which in turn sought support from its allies to sign its statement. Australia declined to do so, issuing its own statement. Continue reading »
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Greg Barns: Julian Assange and the Albanese Government – Enough is enough!
Now is the time to end a dangerous threat to basic freedoms and the rule of law. The Albanese government has a critical role to play in ensuring that outcome. Continue reading »
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Ilhan Omar says 49 million facing famine ‘Should be the biggest story in the world right now’
A United Nations study finds that Russia’s war on Ukraine and the intensifying climate emergency have pushed the number of people facing famine globally to an all-time high. Continue reading »
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Alfred de Zayas and Richard Falk: The unjustified criticism of High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s visit to Xinjiang.
An artificial atmosphere of hostility, sustained by geopolitical agendas, double standards, fake news and skewed narratives has made it difficult to tackle specific human rights problems particularly in Xinjiang. Continue reading »
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Support for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who is under attack over Xinjiang visit.
Michelle Bachelet has announced she will not be seeking a second term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Former UN rapporteurs, Alfred de Zayas and Richard Falk, are supporting her against the attacks she has received for her visit to Xinjiang in May, which includes unjustified demands for her resignation. Alfred de Zayas and Continue reading »
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Fighting the first UK-Rwandan refugee flight
June 10 bore witness to a valiant effort on the part of refugee groups and a trade union to stop what promises to be the first journey of many as part of the UK-Rwanda plan. Their attempt to seek an injunction failed to convince the High Court. Next Tuesday, the first flight from the UK Continue reading »
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The Trial of Julian Assange: A story of persecution
Nils Melzer was UN Special Rapporteur on Torture between 2016 and 2022. In 2019 he began investigating the case of Julian Assange. The English language edition of his book, The Trial of Julian Assange, is the most well-researched account of the legal ordeals suffered by the WikiLeaks founder. A brave and an important book, it Continue reading »
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How reliable is the ‘research’ of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on forced labour in Xinjiang
My Paper concludes that, at best, the work of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch amounts to junk research. Continue reading »
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Bachelet in China: Insights into Human Rights and Xinjiang
UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s recent visit to China did not impress an international press that has made the treatment of the mainly Muslim Uighur people of Xinjiang province a major ground for the West’s political attacks on China. Their negative comments have missed the main point of the visit, which has opened a Continue reading »
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Why only bridging visas to Biloela family?
Interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers has granted the Murugappan family bridging visas to enable the whole family to return to Biloela ‘while they work towards resolution of their immigration status’. Continue reading »
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Scared to mention Palestinians lives and Israel brutalities: A challenge for new MPs
In six weeks of electioneering, and despite the election result, Australian politicians did not dare and appear unlikely to dare to condemn the Israeli government’s continued abuse of Palestinians. An Israeli sniper murdered the distinguished Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli police attacked mourners at her funeral, but such brutalities make little impression on the Continue reading »
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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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