It’s Time to End Violence Against People with Disability
Violence against people with disability is endemic in Australia. It’s an epidemic that until recently has remained hidden. The abuse and neglect of the disabled takes many forms from violence to sexual abuse to the denial of their basic rights....
The Impact of Islamophobia: An Interview with MUIS President Abdulah Hamimi
On Monday, the Islamophobia in Australia report was released by Charles Sturt University. A first-of-its-kind in the world, the study focused on 243 verified incidents reported to the Islamophobia Register of Australia between September 2014 and December 2015. President of the register Mariam Veiszadeh...
The Panopticon is Watching Us All
The panopticon is a prison design comprised of a central observation tower which is surrounded by a circular building containing multiple levels of single inmate cells around the circumference. From the tower, a prison guard is able to observe each of...
Turkey’s Relentless Attack on Human Rights Defenders
At around 10 am on July 5, Turkish police raided a routine professional workshop for human rights defenders at a hotel in Büyükada, one of the Princes Islands near Istanbul. The activists were arrested and are now detained and investigated...
China’s Influence on Australian Politics: An Interview with a Tibetan Refugee
A group of Tibetan demonstrators conducted a peaceful protest over the Chinese occupation of their country, and the circumstances surrounding the death of prominent Tibetan religious leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, at the Chinese consulate in Sydney’s Camperdown in July 2015. A recent Australian...
Outback Work-for-the-Dole Scheme Discriminates Against Indigenous Communities
The federal government’s outback work-for-the-dole scheme is wreaking havoc in remote Indigenous communities. Introduced on July 1 2015, the Community Development Program (CDP) has been labelled an overly punitive scheme that may breach the Racial Discrimination Act. The program currently...
Silencing Dissent: Myanmar Authorities Arrest Journalists
At around 3.30pm on June 26, a group of seven people were arrested by Myanmar authorities at a military checkpoint in the country’s conflict-ridden northern Shan state. Three local journalists were among the group who were detained in Namhsan township...
Australian Transgender Laws Are a Violation of Human Rights
On March 17, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in Geneva ruled Australian laws that require married transgender people to get a divorce if they want to change the sex on their birth certificates are in violation of international human...
Driver Who Collided with Cyclists Appeals Sentence
On 16 March 2014, Thomas Kerr was travelling in his black 4-wheel drive northbound along Southern Cross Drive in Eastlakes, when he ran into the back of seven cyclists from the Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club. It was a dry day,...
Curbing Homelessness: An Interview with Senator Lee Rhiannon
On June 24, City of Sydney rangers moved in to shut down Sydney’s 24-7 Street Kitchen and Safe Space, which had been operating in the CBD since December. The operation had been providing free meals for the city’s needy, and...
