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Race Discrimination

Guide to the Racial Hatred Act

The Racial Hatred Act, introduced in October 1995, extends the coverage of the RDA so that people can complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission about racially offensive or abusive behaviour. It aims to strike a balance between two valued rights: the right to communicate freely and the right...
Commission – General

Annual Report 2010-2011

I have pleasure in presenting the Annual Report of the Australian Human Rights Commission for the period ending 30 June 2011. The report has been prepared pursuant to section 45 of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 and in accordance with the requirements of section 70 of the Public...
Complaint Information Service

ADR as a tool for social change: a discussion (2008)

Human rights and anti-discrimination law in Australia, as in many countries in the Asia Pacific, provides for complaints about discrimination and violations of human rights to be resolved by conciliation. The use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in this context has been criticised. In...
Education

RightsED - Young people in the workplace

Young people in the workplace contains a series of activities and resources to help students explore the issues around workplace discrimination. The activities help students to draw comparisons between the dramatised workplace issues and their personal experiences by looking at how concepts of...
Education

Human rights education in the national school Curriculum

The Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) welcomes the development of a national school curriculum (the Curriculum). We believe that the development of the Curriculum is a unique opportunity to ensure all young Australians develop an understanding and appreciation for human rights.
Many black and while hands linked together
Education

Understanding human rights - rightsED

The Understanding Human Rights resource includes activities that are designed to help students clarify human rights concepts and provide an opportunity to explore the effect of human rights in their own lives.
Education

Commemorate Human Rights Day - rightsED

December 10 is the anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations (UN) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR sets out a certain set of rights that are the basic and minimum set of human rights for all citizens.
Education

RightsED: Child Rights

All people – no matter their age, sex, colour, religion or where they live – have the same basic needs to live a healthy life. These needs include food, shelter, education, healthcare and freedom from persecution and discrimination.
Education

Voices of Australia - RightsED

This education resource is designed to complement the publication Voices of Australia: 30 years since the Racial Discrimination Act. The publication is available at: www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/voices.
Legal

Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZQRB [2013] FCAFC 33

Summary: The Full Court of the Federal Court restrained the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship from removing the applicant asylum seeker to Afghanistan until his claims for protection have been assessed according to law. The Court held that the International Treaties Obligations Assessment was...
Rights and Freedoms

Asylum seekers and refugees

Australia has obligations to protect the human rights of all asylum seekers and refugees who arrive in Australia, regardless of how or where they arrive and whether they arrive with or without a visa.