Plain People of Crooked Timber: can’t see why you’re drafting us in here so often after leaving us out in the cold for five years or whatever, we are busy people with our own lives and so on. Me: but I love you and you’re the best! Plain People of Crooked Timber: well if you’re […]
Human Rights
Israeli citizens’ demand to bring home an estimated 100 Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas is assumed to depend on a Gaza ceasefire which would include a Palestinian prisoner release. By contrast, Palestinian citizens’ “bring them home!” cry concerns the estimated 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, who are also hostages in Israeli jails, including as many Continue reading »
The moral distinction between liberal democracies and dictatorships is being flattened by the carnage in Gaza. For most of human history human rights did not exist. The struggle to secure them arguably began in 1215 with the Magna Carta in England, which promised protection from illegal imprisonment as a right. But it took another 733 years and Continue reading »
Having just read journalist John Lyons’ book Balcony Over Jerusalem, I’m acutely aware of the ways in which the pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia exerts its influence on the media here to disparage journalists and their work and to even try to have them removed from their positions, if this lobby deems there is adverse critique Continue reading »
What democracy would accept a member of parliament agreeing that it was permissible and acceptable for it’s solders to sexually abuse political prisoners Continue reading »
I am not surprised by the disappointment felt by people with disability and their advocacy groups concerning what appears to be the Commonwealth Government’s limp-wristed and overly cautious response to the Disability Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Restraining its response to only 172 of the 222 recommendations of Continue reading »
Governments and politicians should be investing in community initiatives and addressing the social determinants of crime, and health, instead of focusing on “tough on crime” policies, according to two members of the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Tabitha Lean and Debbie Kilroy. Tough on youth crime policies are short sighted Continue reading »
The conflict in Gaza has created both a humanitarian crisis and a public health emergency. Both are still worsening. Yet despite this, Israel is moving to declare UNRWA (United Nations Relief Work Agency) a terrorist organisation. This would massively reduce the ability of UNRWA to deliver (already totally inadequate) food, health care and shelter to Continue reading »
“To be good citizens means owning your own home. If you don’t, you’ve failed in some way” – Sophia Maalsen, University of Sydney. I sit at Brunetti’s with high school friends, wondering what I’m doing here. This group of intelligent women, educated at a prestigious girls’ school, are debating where to buy their second and Continue reading »
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has tabled a report that makes a persuasive argument for comprehensive legislation to protect Australians’ fundamental human rights. Its Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework (2024) identifies a catalogue of deficiencies in the nation’s disaggregated systems of human rights protection. The report provides a new and compelling case for Continue reading »