Text what human rights are important to you to 0428 415 939 or make a film – check out www.humanrightsact.tv
Attend a Submission-Writing workshop in an area near you
Make a submission, or register for a community roundtable at the national human rights consultation website
The Issue
Human rights are basic, universally accepted principles to guide the way that we treat each other. They describe what is necessary for each person to live a life of dignity to the fullness of their potential. Respect for human rights is needed to create a just world founded on a common humanity.(1)
Read more about what human rights are here
A true human rights story – A right for refugees and asylum seekers to be treated with dignity
Between April and July 2002, a 14 year old boy held at the immigration detention centre in Woomera attempted to hang himself four times, climbed into the razor wire four times, slashed his arms twice and went on hunger strike twice. Psychiatrists pleaded with authorities to release him and his mother from detention. Two years later, he was finally recognised as a refugee and released. He now lives in Australia with his family. (2)
There are significant gaps in human rights protection in Australia, some of which JustAct has focused on in past actions.
Some of the human rights problems facing children and young people in our country include:
- Inadequate access to education, particularly for children in rural and remote areas, Indigenous children, children with a disability, and children from diverse cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds.
- Indigenous children in the Northern Territory are three times more likely to die under the age of one than all other children in Australia.
- Some families seeking asylum in Australia were detained in immigration detention centres for more than three years. One child was detained for almost five and half years.
- Employers are allowed to discriminate against young people in terms of pay. This means that a young person with the same skill level, and doing exactly the same task as another employee who is an adult, can legally be paid a different amount for that work.
- One in every two people requesting accommodation from a homeless service is turned away every day. A staggering 46% of those people who are homeless in Australia are under the age of 25.
- In the last ten years there has been an increase in reporting of children to protective services. In 2006, 1,530 children died as a result of abuse or neglect.
The Australian Human Rights Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission aims to promote and protect human rights in Australia by:
- making human rights a part of everyday life
- educating and empowering everyone to understand and exercise their human rights’
- making sure that the government complies to national and international human rights standards
- getting a Human Rights Act for Australia
Go to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website to find out more about their work and check out their youth page at http://humanrights.gov.au/letstalkaboutrights/youth.html
The National Human Rights Consultation
The federal Government has commissioned a consultation on human rights in Australia. This is a chance for all Australians to let the Government know what rights are important to us.
Take a look at the consultation website www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au/ for more information or check out the toolkit UnitingJustice or the Australian Human Rights Commission have put together on how to get involved.
Take action and make sure that your opinion on human rights is heard.
1. UnitingJustice-A toolkit to help individuals and groups in the Uniting Church participate in the Australian Government’s National Human Rights Consultation
2. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, A Last Resort? National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention (2004), pp442–444.
