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In June 2003, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) engaged the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) to investigate Australian Arabs' and Muslims' experiences of post-September 11 racism, the extent to which these experiences were going unreported and the reasons for this. The CCR team was charged with addressing the following questions:

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.

During these ten years, thousands of individuals and organisations have used the DDA to create change, either by making complaints of discrimination, using the law as a basis for negotiating broad social change or educating organisations on their responsibilities.

from Behaviours Associated with Victimisation in The Impact of Current and Traumatic Stressors on the Psychological Well-Being of Refugee Communities. [1]

This is an information paper only. It is intended to provide general guidance. It is not a legally binding document and is not a substitute for independent legal advice. It is limited to the role and function of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission as contained in the legislation establishing the Commission.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that around half of the 50 million displaced persons in the world are children. Around 10 million of these children are under the care of UNHCR. Approximately 100,000 separated children roam Western Europe.(1) During 1999 alone, more than 20,000 separated children applied for asylum in Western Europe, North America or Australia.(2) Of those 20,000 unaccompanied children, 46 travelled to Australia to seek asylum. In the same year a further 202 children sought asylum in Australia with their families.(3)

The Mercy Refugee Service is part of the relief and development cross-cultural work of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy Australia. Mercy Refugee Service is entrusted to serve without discrimination the uprooted and displaced people in our world. It was established in 1983 to respond to the plight of refugees in south-east Asia. At that time volunteers were called on to provide health care, education, social welfare and counselling support to refugees in camps in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and in Cambodia.

I attach a report of my inquiry into complaints by Mr Huong Hai Nguyen and Mr Austin Okoye against the Commonwealth of Australia and GSL (Australia) Pty Ltd, pursuant to section 11(1)(f)(ii) of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth).

Part D of the paper focuses on how a paid maternity leave scheme would actually operate were it to be introduced in Australia. The emphasis, as in the rest of the paper, is on the feedback that HREOC has received through submissions and consultations. Each Chapter canvases the views that were expressed in relation to each component of a national paid maternity leave scheme.

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 International Commission of Jurists is dedicated to the primacy, coherence and implementation of international law and principles that advance human rights. Its aim is to promote human rights through the rule of law by ensuring that developments in international law adhere to human rights principles and that international standards are implemented at the national level. The Commission was founded in Berlin in 1952 and its members are jurists representing different legal systems of the world.