Rights and Freedoms
Human rights are about recognising and respecting the inherent value and dignity of all people.
Top Projects
Rights and Freedoms
Human Rights and Technology
Rights and Freedoms
Australia's Third Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
Rights and Freedoms
OPCAT: Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture
Latest News
Rights and Freedoms
Statement on travel ban and sanctions on Australians travelling from India
The travel ban on Australian citizens returning from India, accompanied by criminal sanctions under the Biosecurity Act, raises serious human rights concerns. The Commission supports the continuation of aid to the Indian Government as it copes with the current COVID-19 crisis, but the Commission...
Rights and Freedoms
Greater scrutiny of emergency powers needed
The Australian Human Rights Commission has called for greater accountability to be embedded in laws that extend the Commonwealth’s power in the event of national emergencies. In its submission to a Senate inquiry examining the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020, the Commission recommended five...
Meet the Commissioner
Edward Santow
Edward Santow has been Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission since August 2016.
Ed leads the Commission’s work on technology and human rights; refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting LGBTI people; counter-terrorism and national security; freedom of expression; freedom of religion; and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
Ed’s areas of expertise include human rights, public law and discrimination law. He is a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and serves on a number of boards and committees.
