Search results

Native title is an intersection of two different legal systems and cultures. The way in which Australia chooses to give recognition to the relationship that Indigenous people have with their land, and the range of options it considers to express that relationship, are matters that affect the human rights of Indigenous people.

Paul Blackmore’s photographs illustrate this report. They depict an inspired local initiative. Five years ago the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody drew attention to the appalling conditions in police lock-ups in rural Australia. The cells in Murgon, three hours north-west of Brisbane, were typical - dirty, disgusting, depressing. Detective Sergeant Ryan and Senior Sergeant McReight got together in 1991, put chalkboards in the cells and started what has become the Murgon Watch-house Art Project. The results have been excellent. Vandalism has almost disappeared.

The application of human rights principles to native title has been the subject of an ongoing dialogue taking place both nationally and internationally in the reporting period.

The Australian Human Rights Commission visited the immigration detention facilities at Villawood from 21 to 25 February 2011. This statement contains a summary of the key observations and concerns arising from the Commission’s visit. It focuses on conditions as they were at that time.

In early 2001 AMEEF, as managers of the MMSD (Australia) project, commissioned various studies including a baseline assessment of the minerals industry and five other areas of interest: mining and biodiversity, stakeholder engagement, mining-Indigenous agreements, managing minerals wealth, and industry-based initiatives for sustainable development. These studies will contribute to a final report of the MMSD (Australia) project, which will form part of MMSD's global project.

Australia is a signatory to a number of International Conventions, which are relevant to mandatory detention of children in Australia’s immigration detention centres. Under International law, each of the conventions that Australia has ratified is binding on the Australian state, which is obliged to bring its domestic laws into conformity with their stipulations. In Australia, International Conventions do not have legal force in domestic law, and cannot be directly applied by the domestic courts in Australia, unless the Australian Parliament enacts them into legislation.

This is a report to the Attorney-General on inquiries made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into a complaint made under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth) (the Act) of discrimination in employment on the ground of age. The complaint was made by Ms Akiko Ishikuni against the Japan Travel Bureau (Australia) (JTB).