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Commission – General
17 January 2019Publication
Annual Report 2017-2018
This Annual Report sets out the performance of the Australian Human Rights Commission in the 2017–18 financial year. -
Rights and Freedoms
18 November 2020Webpage
What human rights are at particular risk of being restricted during a pandemic?
Learn how human rights were restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic and how vulnerable people and groups were subjected to more human rights incursions. -
14 December 2012Book page
HREOC Annual Report 2003-2004 : Chapter 3: Monitoring Human Rights
Along with its human rights education and promotion function, the Commission undertakes a monitoring role in relation to human rights standards. This monitoring role ranges across the work of the individual Commissioners who examine and report issues of race, sex and disability discrimination and human rights, to the assessment of legislative proposals and presentation of submissions through the Parliamentary Committee process. -
Commission – General
7 November 2023Publication
Annual Report 2022-23
The Australian Human Rights Commission has been through a period of great change this financial year. Dedicated focus on governance enhancements and improving financial management has placed the Commission in a more positive financial position than it has been in recent years. -
Age Discrimination
13 September 2021News storyNew research finds ageism is the most accepted form of prejudice in Australia
A new report released today by the Australian Human Rights Commission has found most Australians (90%) agree ageism exists in Australia, with 83% agreeing ageism is a problem and 65% saying it affects people of all ages. -
Education25 February 2015Webpage
Face the facts: Children's Rights
Learn how Australia signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child to help protect vulnerable groups of children and young people who are at risk. -
Race Discrimination
10 July 2024Media ReleaseNew report finds governments at all levels across Australia failing on racism
A new report has found governments and their departments at all levels across the country are failing to adequately identify and address racism – even avoiding the term ‘racism’ – and that approaches across the board are ad-hoc, disjointed, reactive, and lacking coordination between governments, agencies and sectors. -
22 February 2024Webpage
Free + Equal Human Rights Conference
Hear from Australia's leading human rights advocates about how a Human Rights Act will put all our rights in one place and create a common tool for justice for people in Australia. -
Commission – General
17 August 2021News story
Commission statement on Afghanistan
The Australian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the unfolding situation in Afghanistan and the critical human rights threat to the Afghan people, and in particular Afghan women and girls, from the resurgence of Taliban control of the country. -
Rights and Freedoms
1 May 2013Publication
Human rights issues raised by the third country processing regime
The Commission recognises the importance of effective border management and recognises that Australia has a right as a sovereign State to exclude non-citizens from its territory. However, Australia also has international obligations in relation to asylum seekers who come here, including those who arrive by boat, which must be observed in its border management practices. This paper provides a brief outline of the recent changes and highlights the key human rights concerns raised by the third country processing regime. -
14 December 2012Book page
Achieving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality within a generation - A human rights based approach
Improving the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a longstanding challenge for governments in Australia. While there have been improvements made in some areas since the 1970s (notably in reducing high rates of infant mortality1) overall progress has been slow and inconsistent. The inequality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians remains wide and has not been progressively reduced. -
Rights and Freedoms
5 May 2019Speech
40+ years of conciliation
The Australian Human Rights Commission and Conciliation—a 40+ year success story, but … National Mediation Conference, Canberra Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM [Professor Croucher spoke to this paper] Abstract A key responsibility of the Australian Human Rights Commission is to handle complaints of breaches of human rights. This is a role that the Commission in its various iterations has ... -
14 December 2012Book page
Preventing Crime and Promoting Rights for Indigenous Young People with Cognitive Disabilities and Mental Health Issues Appendix 2
In order to establish what is provided for Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and/ or mental health problems, information was requested from all relevant government departments across Australia.[213]A letter was sent to departments requesting: -
14 December 2012Book page
DIAC Response to the 2010 Australian Human Rights Commission Report on Immigration Detention in Darwin (2010)
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Australian Human Rights Commission (the AHRC) 2010 Public Statement on Immigration Detention in Darwin. -
Disability Rights
14 December 2012SpeechNational Disability Strategies as tools for implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Summary: Australia’s National Disability Strategy provides a framework for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons and for means for enhancing reporting under the Convention. Further development and implementation of the NDS should be informed by the Committee’s reporting guidelines and by the dialogue between the Australian Government and the Committee in considering Australia’s reports. Some enhancements to the reporting guidelines may also be helpful. -
14 December 2012Book page
Corporate Responsibility - Developing principles on Resource Development on Indigenous land: A Human Rights based approach
These Principles were developed by a forum of Indigenous people from Australia's major mineral resource regions, held in Alice Springs in May 2002. Participants had a depth of experience and expertise in areas across the country, but the process did not make any claim to represent a national Indigenous view. The forum was co-hosted by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (Dr Bill Jonas) and Professor Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh on behalf of Griffith University and facilitated by Indigenous lawyer, Robynne Quiggin. -
Rights and Freedoms
29 September 2017Speech
Religion and Human Rights in Modern Australia: Friends, Foes or Ships in the Night?
Western Sydney Open Forum CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements • Traditional Aboriginal owners: the Darug Nation • Dr Sev Ozdowski AM If you’ve read the papers or seen the news in the last few weeks, you might be forgiven for thinking that human rights are somehow radically incompatible with religion, or at least with ‘religious freedom’. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, this ... -
Commission – General
14 December 2012Speech
Why we need an Australian Bill of Rights - a Joint Forum
The first is that HREOC has been suggesting for a considerable time that there needs to be renewed public debate on whether Australia should have a charter of human rights of some sort. It seems that the launch of the New Matilda campaign will give momentum to such a debate. A lot has changed, both nationally and internationally since the unsuccessful attempts of the 1970s and the 1980s to interest Australians in a bill of rights. As is so often said, Australia has now become the only major Western democracy that does not have a bill of rights. -
Commission – General
14 December 2012Speech
An update on the work of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)
I would like to acknowledge the Larrakia people on whose traditional land we meet today. I would also like to thank the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commission for hosting this event at such short notice. What I plan to do today is to talk briefly about a few of the issues which are currently on HREOC’s agenda. The first issue is HREOC’s Same-Sex Same Entitlements Inquiry. -
14 December 2012Book page
Monitoring and reporting on laws and policy - Annual Report 2009-2010: Australian Human Rights Commission
The Commission assesses compliance with human rights principles by examining and reporting on issues of race, age, sex and disability discrimination and human rights. In doing so, we play a significant role in the monitoring of legislation and policy in Australia.