Disability Discrimination Commissioner

About Rosemary Kayess

Rosemary Kayess is a committed advocate for equal rights for people with disability in Australia and internationally. Commissioner Kayess is a leading disability and human rights lawyer who has been influential in international human rights law for people with disability.

The human rights of people with disability will not be achieved without transforming our society to embrace and value human diversity.

Commissioner Kayess

Experience

Over the last 25 years, she has been part of the formulation of international human rights law in the area of disability, since her time as designated expert on the Australian Government delegation for the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This work has continued in her role as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which she was elected to in 2018, and re-elected in 2022. She has served as Chair and Vice-Chair of this Committee. Her work nationally and internationally has advanced Australia’s agenda for the recognition and protection of the human rights of people with disability.

She was the recipient of the Australian Human Rights Medal in 2019.

Education

Commissioner Kayess holds a Bachelor of Social Science, Bachelor of Laws and an Honorary Doctorate in Law. She is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

She was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Disability, Law and Policy at the University of Galway.

Memberships

Commissioner Kayess is a current and former member of several councils and committees, including:

• Member, Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group
• Disability and Data Expert Member, National Disability Data Asset Council

Former memberships include:

• Strategic Engagement Reference Group for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability
• Chair, Australian Centre for Disability Law
• Advisory Board Member, NSW Aging and Disability Commission

You might also like:

• Disability rights training
• About the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• About the Disability Discrimination Act
• Complaints under the Disability Discrimination Act