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2.1 Scope of international obligations During Australia’s review, the Government made a commitment to improving Australia’s monitoring of its international human rights obligations. Australia is a party to seven of the core human rights treaties and maintains a number of reservations under these. The Australian Government made a commitment to conduct a comprehensive review of such reservations by ...

Learn about how Australia has entered international human rights obligations to stop pregnancy and return to work discrimination against women.

By ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1980 Australia has undertaken to respect and protect freedom of religion and belief.

Human rights are our entitlements to have our dignity and worth as human beings recognised. We all have them, we all want them recognised in our friends and families, and we all have responsibilities to recognise them in others.

DR OZDOWSKI: My name is Dr Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner and we are conducting an Inquiry into Children in Detention. To my left is Mrs Robin Sullivan who is Assistant Commissioner for the Inquiry and in her other life, she is Queensland Children's Commissioner and to my right is Professor Trang Thomas, Professor of Psychology at the Melbourne Institute of Technology and she is also Assistant Commissioner. Also to my left is Mrs Vanessa Lesnie and she is Secretary to the Inquiry.

DR OZDOWSKI: I would like to formally open this public hearing which is one of a series of hearings conducted around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I'm the Human Rights Commissioner. I have two colleagues sitting with me, Mrs Robin Sullivan who is Queensland Children's Commissioner, who is assisting with the Inquiry and Dr Trang Thomas who is Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology who is the second Assistant Commissioner. I also have Ms Vanessa Lesnie, sitting to my left and she is Secretary to the Inquiry and she will also ask some of the questions.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires Australia to protect children's rights to cultural identity, language and religion. The most effective way of ensuring enjoyment of these rights is to encourage and allow refugee and asylum-seeking children to participate in cultural and religious activities in the community. The Australian community is well equipped to respond to this need as a wide range of cultural and religious opportunities are readily accessible and this remains a key factor in the maintenance of our multicultural society.

The primary responsibilities of the Legal Section are to assist the President or their delegate in the preparation of notices and reports under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth); to act as counsel or instructing solicitor for the Commission in interventions and amicus curiae matters; to assist the Commission in work arising from legislation or bills raising human rights issues and to monitor and promote awareness of developments in international and domestic human rights law, including discrimination jurisprudence in the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Cour

This submission draws substantially on research papers by Eileen Pittaway and Linda Bartolomei which are currently pending publication. The content of this submission may not be reproduced or quoted without the written permission of these authors.

The Ethnic Communities Council of Western Australia commends the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski in particular, for instituting the Children in Immigration Detention Inquiry.

back to contents Chapter 5: Addressing family violence in Indigenous communities There is no issue currently causing more destruction to the fabric of Indigenous communities than family violence. This has been acknowledged by all levels of government in recent years, with a number of significant inquiries and initiatives undertaken or commenced at the federal, state and territory level to address its impact. The intensive scrutiny and public awareness of this issue has not, however, led to sufficient commitments of resources and effort to date.

Justice for Asylum Seekers (JAS) is a non-incorporated alliance of community organisations founded in 1999 to work for just treatment of people seeking asylum. It is based in Victoria, meets monthly and has three working groups: 1. Campaign, 2. Detention reform and 3. Lobbying.