Papers
This section contains a range of research and background papers produced by HREOC on human rights issues. An index of Papers published in 2008 is available below. For further information please contact the Public Affairs Unit via: media@humanrights.gov.au
2008
-
Human Rights and Climate Change – Background Paper (8 April)
- Click here for Word format
- Click here for PDF format
In responding to climate change, governments have traditionally approached it as an ecological problem or more recently, as an economic one. To date the social and human rights implications of climate change have received little attention. Yet the human costs of climate change directly threaten fundamental human rights; rights to life, to food, to a place to live and work, rights that governments have an obligation to protect.
Part I of this paper considers the human rights dimensions of climate change. Specifically, it looks at how the rights contained in the key international instruments are threatened by the impacts of climate change. Part II then goes on to consider what obligations are imposed on Australia, in both international and domestic law, to respond to these threats. Part III outlines how Australia may fulfil its human rights obligations, in the context of climate change responses; arguing that a human rights-based approach is the most effective way to respond to climate change.
An International Comparison of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (9 April 2008)
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (RDA) came into effect 33 years ago. It was Australia’s first federal law dealing with human rights and implemented a basic principle of international law: the principle prohibiting discrimination against people on the basis of their race, colour, or national or ethnic origin.
It is important that the RDA continues to be reviewed against the goals it seeks to achieve; equality and non-discrimination. It is also important that the legislation remains responsive to the changing makeup and attitudes of Australian society.
This paper seeks to contribute to an analysis of the continuing usefulness and effectiveness of the RDA by placing it in context with contemporary race discrimination legislation in other global jurisdictions.
