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Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights: Universal and Inalienable

I'm very pleased to be speaking to you today. I'm especially encouraged that so many young people have put aside a weekend to think about, and talk about, human rights.

Rights and Freedoms

"The local face of global justice policy": Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2004)

Firstly I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand and by so doing remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousands of years and express our aspirations for Australians of the future to be socially just and inclusive.

Rights and Freedoms

Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies Conference

I am delighted to be invited to speak today at the Biennial Conference of the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies, in association with partner organisations dedicated to the wellbeing of children.

Rights and Freedoms

Introducing human rights law: Chris Sidoti (1997)

International law deals with many matters of importance to everyday life: access to the water of rivers for navigation, irrigation and drinking; transport by sea and air; environmental protection; the arrest and extradition of those accused or convicted of crimes. International law provides protection in international life and locally.

Commission – General

President Speech: Flinders University Law School Prize Giving Ceremony 2010

I am honoured to have been invited to address you this evening on this beautiful campus of the Flinders University of South Australia. Let me begin my address by recalling that, long before the establishment of this prestigious place of learning in the European tradition, there was learning of another tradition here; the learning of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders, past and present.

Commission – General

President speeches: The Potential Role of National Human Rights Institutions in the Pacific

This paper advocates that National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) have a very valuable role to play in the Pacific, and that the promotion and protection of human rights in the Pacific would benefit immensely by Pacific nations each establishing a NHRI.

Commission – General

Promoting Human Rights - Good Governance, the Rule of Law and Democracy

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world

Commission – General

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First of all I'd like to thank you all for coming to here today. It is timely that we meet the day before Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations arrives in Australia. It is from the United Nations that the international obligations we are discussing today are sourced.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The National Apology to the Stolen Generations one year on (2009)

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the Wurundjeri country, the land where we are meeting today, and thank Joy Murphy Wandin for her warm welcome to country. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. I would also like to thank the Wunsyaluv dancers for the dances they have performed for us today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Integration of Customary Law into the Australian Legal System: Calma

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders.

Disability Rights

PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: TOWARDS A NEW UN CONVENTION

Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, Australia

Race Discrimination

Launch of Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century

I also acknowledge colleagues from government, and from non-government organisations, including from a wide range of churches and faith-based organisations. And particularly can I acknowledge colleagues from the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal and Athalia Zwartz, and Professors Gary Bouma and Des Cahill, as the authors of the report we are receiving and launching today.

Rights and Freedoms

ACFID Awards Night Presentation: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2005)

I would like to commence my brief remarks tonight by acknowledging the success of the member organizations of ACFID. Clearly any organization whose constituent members in 2004 raised $487.4 million, or around 70%, annually of their funds, from the public with only about 14% coming from the government via AusAID is a very effective one indeed. This statistic is also vitally important when one considers the ramifications of how best to engage in constructive policy dialogue with federal governments of any political persuasion.

Rights and Freedoms

Lawasia Conference

In the contemporary world, and particularly amongst developed economies, many of us believed that the culture of civil liberties, freedoms and non-discrimination are reasonably well established and these precepts have clear links to innovation, creativity and the broader concepts of economic productivity and a well functioning civil society. Indeed, I believe that many of us had come to accept and expect this to be the situation, and that conferences like the one we attend here today could be built on this very premise.

Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights in Contemporary Australia: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2001)

Despite its rather grand title, this presentation will be a relatively modest attempt to set out the key challenges for human rights in Australia as I see them at the outset of my term as Human Rights Commissioner. Let us begin with a quick survey of the state of human rights internationally and in Australia today.