With the passing of the 75th remembrance of the Nakba this May, Palestine and its Occupation can often be forgotten from one May to another. May will come around next year, the Palestinian flag will be waved, Palestinian supporters will rightfully demonstrate in capital cities around the world while the US and UK recommence their Continue reading »
Human Rights
While minds turn to an overhaul of Australia’s migration policies, anti-sex work sentiment may have created a parallel policy reality for some. System design to prevent migrant worker exploitation has yet not been fully explored in Australian politics, perhaps because orthodoxy dictates (rightly or wrongly) that a strong-arm criminal justice approach will be more popular. Continue reading »
For those familiar with the ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange by the United States, a brutal carnivalesque endeavour that continues to blight that legal system, there is not much to be said. Assange is a political prisoner who must be freed. But the task remains for those like Stella Assange to convince politicians and journalists Continue reading »
Emphasizing humanitarian aid and empowering women's self-determination and autonomy might be a better approach to creating meaningful change for women and girls than sanctions as a sole strategy.
If you witnessed a war crime, what would you do? Since the US led capture of Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy into the UK’s Belmarsh prison, he has served four torturous years of detainment. Julian’s family, their international team of lawyers along with a growing number of leaders, scholars, concerned citizens – and especially Continue reading »
Today, May 15th, is the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe). And counting. I say ‘and counting’ because the theft of our land, the occupation, the siege on Gaza, the disposition of our people, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and replacement of the Palestinian nation, with Jews, often of dual nationality, from around the Continue reading »
Despite a year of grace given to the Prime Minister for ‘quiet diplomacy’ to work, the release of Julian Assange from political incarceration and extradition looks as remote as ever – so it seems it’s time to get out the loudhailer once more. After nearly a decade of making Freedom of Information (FOI) applications in the Julian Continue reading »
We are permitting ourselves no character of our own under the architecture of the Alliance. It means we’ve accepted the status of a kind of client state, or American territory. I won’t say the 51st state. It means we’ve got even less independence than a US governor would have, former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr Continue reading »
When the western media and politicians speak of China’s treatment of minorities it is always taken for granted that such treatment is a violation of the minority’s human rights. I would venture to differ. China has a complex framework of ethnic-regional autonomy enshrined in its constitution that is poorly understood in the West. Having worked Continue reading »
Constitutional enshrinement of rights through a federal Human Rights Act is essential. In response to approaches from the Australian Human Rights Commission Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has recently announced an Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework, charging the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights with considering whether the Australian parliament should enact a federal Human Rights Continue reading »