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This submission addresses some of the issues and questions raised in the background papers prepared by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its 1967 Protocol (the Refugee Convention). The conclusions drawn in this submission arise out of the experiences of staff and members of the Uniting Church in Australia. We do acknowledge that the evidence presented here is therefore anecdotal.

Learn about the Wiyi Yani U Thangani project, which works to improve health, housing and education outcomes for Indigenous women and girls in Australia.

I could tell you of heartbreak, hatred blind I could tell of crimes that shame mankind Of brutal wrongs and deeds malign Of rape and murder son of mine

The Commission plays a significant role in monitoring legislation and policy in Australia to assess compliance with human rights principles. This monitoring role includes:

At the international level there are three broad categories of obligation to which a state may be subject: treaty law, customary international law and emerging international standards. Treaty obligations become binding on states once they have ratified a treaty. This means that the state allows itself to be bound by the conditions and obligations contained within the treaty. Customary international law is enshrined in continuous practice by a majority of states over an extended period of time.

The project was officially supported by the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia, the Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria, the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Islamic Girls’ and Women's Group, the Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition and Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE. The support of all of these organisations was vital to the overall success of the forum.

Indigenous peoples from all over the world have suffered the long-standing effects of colonisation. Consequently, we continue to struggle with the challenges that I have raised in this Report; particularly those that concern our identity, culture and access to and protection of our lands, territories and resources.

Experiences of discrimination differed greatly depending on whether the discrimination was based on a person’s sexual orientation or on a person’s sex and/or gender identity.