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Rights and Freedoms
Australia needs to deliver on our treaty promises
As with any agreement, there are certain requirements that OPCAT signatories need to fulfill, and Australia has been given longer than any other country to meet our OPCAT commitments. Today – 20 January 2023 – is our extended compliance deadline, and Australia has failed to deliver on our promises.
ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ's Rights
Governments must urgently address youth justice crisis
The ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ calls on all Australian governments to urgently address the national crisis in youth justice to prevent further harm to children in detention, and to reduce youth offending through effective systems of support.
Rights and Freedoms
Human Rights Commissioner to raise juvenile and immigration detention concerns with UN torture committee in Geneva
Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner is set to appear before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva next week to provide analysis of how Australia measures up against our obligations under the UN’s Convention Against Torture (CAT) and its associated Optional Protocol (OPCAT).
Rights and Freedoms
Human Rights Commission calls for urgent action to address fallout from suspension of UN SPT visit
The ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ is urging all Australian state and territory governments to fully commit to implementing an important human rights framework for people held in detention settings following the suspension of a tour of Australia by United Nations inspectors. A delegation from...
Rights and Freedoms
New report aims to help fast-track Australia’s OPCAT implementation process
A new report released today by the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ outlines activities required to expedite Australia’s sluggish approach to implementing the United Nation’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)...
ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ's Rights
Government action needed to protect children in detention
Learn how the Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of teenagers who were kept in adult detention centres.
Rights and Freedoms
Novak Djokovic drew global attention to Australia's immigration detention regime. Now we need proper scrutiny of all places of detention
Novak Djokovic’s recent detention at Melbourne’s Park Hotel drew international attention to Australia’s use of hotels as Alternative Places of Detention by immigration authorities. But while Djokovic’s detention was measured in days, others still remaining in the Park Hotel measure their detention...
Commission – General
Community update: COVID-19 (May 2020)
Stay safe. Stay connected. Stay informed.
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Australia, Human Rights, Refugees and Asylum Seekers
A comment on the current human rights issues faced by Australia in the processing of refugees and asylum seekers
Commission – General
Seventh International Conference for National Human Rights Institutions
Torture and various forms of terrorism have been practiced throughout history, though never on the scale we are now confronted with. The first visual records of police interrogation were discovered in a four thousand year old tomb in ancient Egypt. Since the pharaohs there have been many refinements in methods of inducing physical pain and gathering intelligence, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition, but more recently in the modern totalitarian state.
Pagination
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