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. (more…)
Tag: Human Rights
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How human rights are disappearing before our eyes
The moral distinction between liberal democracies and dictatorships is being flattened by the carnage in Gaza. (more…)
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ABC – Ignorant, fearful or biased journalism?
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 of Israel. (more…)
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‘Insane torture’: Israeli soldiers confirm horrific abuse of Palestinians at Sde Teiman
“Teeth were broken, bones were broken,” said one soldier. “You notice how easy it is to lose your humanity,” said another. (more…)
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Israel’s Australian ‘hostages’
Hundreds of Australians’ family members holding valid Australian visas are being prevented from fleeing devastated Gaza – by the Israeli military, and the impotence of the Australian government. (more…)
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Israeli MP condones sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners
What democracy would accept a member of parliament agreeing that it was permissible and acceptable for its soldiers to sexually abuse political prisoners? (more…)
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Is the government fair dinkum? Response to the Royal Commission
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. (more…)
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UN probe finds ‘Appalling Acts’ of torture against Palestinians detained by Israel
The U.N. report found evidence of sexual violence, waterboarding, and the use of dogs against detainees, many of whom were deprived of food, water, sleep, and toilet access. (more…)
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When children’s wellbeing becomes a political football, it’s time to change the game
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. (more…)
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UNRWA must not be criminalised by the Israeli Parliament
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 the starving people of Gaza. (more…)
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Federal parliamentary committee presents a decisive case for an Australian Human Rights Act
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 Parliament to revisit the idea that Australia should join every other Western nation in providing comprehensive legal protection to combat the widespread infringement of human rights. (more…)
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Legislating for homelessness
“To be good citizens means owning your own home. If you don’t, you’ve failed in some way” – Sophia Maalsen, University of Sydney. (more…)
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Julian Assange’s fifty-third birthday party
A week after Julian Assange’s release from Belmarsh prison, a boisterous gathering of 200 very happy Assange supporters packed the St Kilda Bowls Club in Melbourne to celebrate Julian Assange’s 53 birthday on July 3. Assange, who was in seclusion still recovering from his ordeal, did not attend. (more…)
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Australia could be the first nation in the world to eliminate poverty
The Australia Institute has recently argued for the introduction of a system for measuring the extent of poverty in Australia, pointing out that the government’s recently established wellbeing measurement framework, Measuring What Matters, does not measure the number of Australians living in poverty. Greg Jericho and the other researchers at the Institute have argued that the Albanese government should revive the commitment of the Hawke-Keating government that no child will live in poverty and they’ve suggested that elimination of poverty is a worthy ambition that “starts with measuring it properly”. (more…)
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Afghanistan women’s cricket team seeks recognition
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan almost three years ago, women’s sport has been cast into darkness there.
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Poverty alleviation is not forced labour
Between the months of April and August of last year, I drove my EV and trailer RV to more than 40 locations and 15,000 kilometres in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region while I documented my experience. (more…)
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For Labor, Payman breaching caucus rules is worse than Israel committing genocide
Instead of concern about continuing slaughter in Gaza and the West Bank, the major controversy surrounding Senator Payman’s support for a Palestinian state and for Palestinians’ lives has focused on her non-compliance with rules and discipline in the Labor caucus. That seems astounding. (more…)
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The legacy media hate Julian Assange
It is often said that the reason the legacy media hate Julian Assange so much is that they are jealous of Assange’s rock star status. But it is much more than that. Not only did Assange make the MSM look dishonest; by reinventing Fourth Estate journalism with WikiLeaks, Julian Assange challenged the control of the narrative that is the source of the power of the legacy media. (more…)
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The Assange non-verdict: the threat remains
The champers toasting the release of Julian Assange was delightful after many years of struggle against his clearly unjust indictment and years of imprisonment. I am sure we all enjoyed sipping it. After the excitement and sweetness has assuaged however, a certain bitterness still remains, a cold realisation just what his plea bargaining signifies. (more…)
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The release of Julian Assange
It would be the political persecution of the 21st Century. A publicly orchestrated campaign of mobbing, libelling and black balling by the most powerful country on the planet of a publisher who, using novel technological means, enlivened a moribund fourth estate by linking, ever more closely, the leaking whistleblower and the scribbling journalist. (more…)
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Freedom for Julian Assange but a history of injustice
After years in a top security British jail, Julian Assange has been freed provided he pleads guilty under an US Espionage Act to unlawfully obtaining and disseminating US defence information. That should be the last and long overdue chapter in a cruel, revengeful persecution of an Australian citizen, a whistleblower, journalist and publisher. (more…)
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After 13 years, Julian Assange walks free
Julian Assange is expected to be in Australia late tomorrow, a free man. (more…)
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A Chinese mother’s journey to accept her transgender child
“I didn’t tell my husband that our child is a transgender person who likes girls, until months later. His smile froze after hearing what I said.” (more…)
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Australia must recognise Palestine to promote peace
Such a move would support the peace efforts, not undermine them, as some have argued. (more…)
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Is it time for Australia to pass a national Human Rights Act?
Parliament has the power to enshrine human rights protections in federal law. Proposals are on the table. (more…)
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Judah Tana: Asia is witnessing one of history’s largest trafficking events
Judah Tana is the Australian founder-director of Global Advance Projects which has rescued hundreds of trafficking victims who arrived in Myanmar from more than 60 countries as far-flung as Uganda and Morocco. (more…)
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Palestinian prisoners starved, abused and mistreated
Since October 7th last year more than 9,500 Palestinians including 635 minors from the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem have been held in Israeli jails. More than 3,400 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, have also been placed in administrative detention under the pretext of secret evidence. All prisoners and detainees have been subjected to systematic physical and psychological torture, deprivation of basic needs of human life and minimum levels of treatment. (more…)
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Meet a Palestinian family denied safety by Australia
Meet a young family of gentle Palestinians living in Gaza. The family has subsisted on tinned food from aid organisations. They cook with wood and iron posts over a besser block fireplace. Prior to October 2023, the family worked in information technology and accounting for an animal welfare charity. (more…)
