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Let's talk about rights workshop: What’s in it for Women? (2009)

What’s in it for Women?

Women and Human
Rights Protection in Australia


Venue:

Central Bardon Conference Centre

390 Simpsons Rd,
Bardon QLD

Date: 28 April 2009



Elizabeth Broderick, the federal Sex Discrimination
Commissioner, and the Queensland Working Women’s Service, invite you to a
forum:

What’s in it for Women?

Women and Human
Rights Protection in Australia


Do you work in women’s services? Do you work in women’s housing?
Women’s health? Violence against women? Women’s support services?
Discrimination issues?

Housing, health, violence, discrimination, work, education and culture are
all human rights issues.

The Australian Government is currently undertaking a National Human Rights
Consultation which is being conducted by an independent Committee.

The consultation is a unique opportunity for people to have their say
about human rights and how they should be protected in Australia. It is critical
that the diversity of women’s voices and perspectives are included in this
process.

This forum will provide vital information to assist women to participate
fully in the Australian Government’s consultation.


The forum will include:

  • The opportunity to meet directly with the Consultation Committee in a
    special roundtable on the human rights issues facing women
  • Background on human rights and what they mean for women
  • The relevance of human rights to the work of the women’s sector
  • Options for improving human rights protections
  • What women can gain from better human rights protection in Australia
  • Information about how to participate in the National Human Rights
    Consultation

Where: Central Bardon Conference Centre

390 Simpsons Rd,
Bardon (map below)

Date: Thursday 26 March, 2009

Time: 9:15 am – 4:30 pm (lunch will be provided)

This event is held with the support of the Queensland Working Women’s
Service, Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre, Women’s Health
Queensland Wide, Women’s House Shelta, Bahloo Women’s Youth Shelter,
Women’s Legal Service and Immigrant Women's Support Service.

Please note that the Australian Human Rights Commission is not undertaking
the Consultation or accepting submissions. Information on the independent
National Human Rights Consultation Committee is available at
www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au

Speakers

Dr. Betty McLellan

Dr. Betty McLellan is a feminist ethicist, author, psychotherapist and
committed activist of long standing. One of four women who comprise the
Coalition for a Feminist Agenda, Betty’s focus is deliberately local and
global. Working with others to create a solid feminist core in Townsville, she
also maintains a radical commitment to global feminist activism. She is the
author of three books, one of which has been published in 13 languages. She has
a long association with Women's Services and Refugee Services in Townsville is a
non-Indigenous member of the Townsville Indigenous Human Rights group. Her
fourth book, in progress, focuses on the politics of speech as a feminist
ethical issue - Unspeakable: A feminist ethic of speech.


Dr. Sue Harris Rimmer

Susan Harris Rimmer is an academic at the Australian National University and
is President of national NGO Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. She has worked
with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Australian Council for International
Development as well as law firm Blake Dawson Waldron and the Parliamentary
Library.

Susan was chosen as the winner of the Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on
the Human Rights of Women for 2006. She was selected to participate in the 2020
Summit to discuss the Future of Australian Governance and is currently a Board
member of UNIFEM Australia.


Dr. Tamara Walsh

Tamara Walsh is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. As a
researcher she is interested in the connection between poverty and the law and
has worked on projects covering topics such as vagrancy, homelessness, public
space law, social security law and corrections law. She lectures in human rights
law, constitutional law and anti-discrimination law.


About the venue

The venue is accessible for people using wheelchairs. If you have any other
access requirements to support your full participation or require any other
information, please contact Elena Rosenman on 02 9284 9862 as soon as
possible.

Parking at the venue is free.

 

‘What’s in it for women?’

Women
and Human Rights Protection in Australia


Thursday 26 March 2009

9:15am – 4:30
pm


Draft Program


9.15
Arrivals, registration, tea and coffee
9.30
Welcome to country
9:40
Welcome from Elizabeth Broderick
9.50
Introductory remarks – is our work human rights work?
Betty McClellan
Tamara Walsh
10:45
MORNING TEA
11:15
Human rights – what’s in it for women?
Sue Harris Rimmer
12:30
LUNCH
13:15
Breakout groups
Participants will break into small groups to work through the Consultation
questions as they relate specifically to the issue they work with.
14:00
Report back
14:45
AFTERNOON TEA
15:00
Women’s Caucus – determining key messages for roundtable
with the Consultation Committee
15:30
Roundtable with the National Consultation Committee
16:30
Summary and close