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I am delighted to present my first statement as President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Much of what is reported in this volume occurred before I took up my appointment. The last twelve months have been a time of challenge and success for the Commission as it continues the important task of promoting and protecting the observance of human rights in Australia.

While a short period of detention may be permitted for the purpose of conducting preliminary health, identity and security checks, Australia's detention system requires detention well beyond those permitted purposes. In fact, Australia's immigration detention laws and practices create a detention system that is fundamentally at odds with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In early 2011 the Australian Human Rights Commission celebrated 25 years of operation. It was an occasion for us to identify lessons from the past and to envision how we can work even more effectively to fulfil our statutory mandate to protect and promote human rights in Australia.

My name is Hayat. I come from Ethiopia. I’m 25. I live in Campsie with my husband, Adem, and our four-year-old daughter. Her name is Siti. I used to stay at home with Siti but now I work in the office at the Magic Paper factory. I’ve been working there for about seven weeks. I’m an Administrative Assistant. My boss’s name is Albert. My friend’s name is Cheri.

Activity and Resource Sheets Rights Ed Activity Sheet: Picture Difference Picture 1A Picture 2A Picture 3A Source: Photograph taken by Wotjek Gurak on Flickr Rights Ed Activity Sheet: Picture Difference Picture 1B Picture 2B Picture 3B Source: Photograph taken by Wotjek Gurak on Flickr Rights Ed Activity Sheet: Defining Liveability Rights Ed Activity Sheet: What makes a community liveable…

HREOC's release of its interim paper, Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave sparked an extraordinary community debate about the difficulties of combining work and family responsibilities in modern Australia.

John was removed from his family as an infant in the 1940s. He spent his first years in Bomaderry Children's Home at Nowra. At 10 he was transferred to Kinchela.

I am primarily a paediatric doctor. I saw many of the children in [Woomera] … and really so many of their problems relate directly to the prolonged and indeterminate nature of their detention, which is a combination of the very harsh and isolated physical environment, the poor accommodation facilities and the lack of resources for their mental health and their leisure activities.

On 27 July 2000, the Commonwealth government and the Northern Territory Government signed an agreement for the establishment of a juvenile pre-court diversion scheme in the Northern Territory (NT). This agreement arose specifically as a response to the continued criticism of the NT’s mandatory minimum imprisonment laws and their impact on juveniles and Indigenous people. By establishing the…

On 21 June 2007, the Australian Government announced a ‘national emergency response to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory’ from sexual abuse and family violence.[1] This has become known as the ‘NT intervention’ or the ‘Emergency Response’. The catalyst for the measures was the release of Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into…

I'm a mother who has been out of the paid workforce for two years and will probably be for the next 4 years, until my children are ready for pre-school. My return to work will probably be on a part-time basis and I will probably have to re-start my career after so many years out so I don't expect that I will earn very much. I never thought this would be the case - I studied for many years, earned…