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The 2015 Human Rights Report – Land Grabs in Cambodia: Brought to you by Western Consumers
By Adam McBeth This article is featured in the 2015 Castan Centre Human Rights Report. We will be featuring the articles on the blog throughout the month of May. The story of what happened to Boeung Kak, a lake once crucial to Phnom Phen in preventing flooding from rivers during monsoon season, illustrates the problem of corruption and human rights…
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The Bali Nine could happen again tomorrow: the rules still allow Australian police to provide information in death penalty cases
By Adam McBeth It has been well documented that the intervention of the Australian Federal Police played a central role in the arrest of the Bali Nine in Indonesia in 2005, ultimately leading to the execution by firing squad of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran on 29 April 2015. Without the information provided by the…
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2014 Castan Human Rights Report: Human rights in need of aid
By Adam McBeth Foreign aid and human rights are inextricably linked, as aid is often the only way to fulfil peoples’ rights in developing countries. This is especially true for economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to water, housing, health, education and a sustainable livelihood. However, it is also true for many…
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Human Rights in the Federal Budget Part 2: The Attorney-General’s Department
By Adam McBeth The Attorney-General’s Department has trumpeted the commitment of an additional $130 million in the next year “to improve access to justice for all Australians.” The bulk of that amount will be spent on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, with a further $23.5 million split between Community Legal Centres,…
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Human Rights in the Federal Budget Part 1: Creative Accounting and Overseas Aid
By Adam McBeth Following Tuesday’s budget, much has been made of the government’s deferral (yet again) of the commitment to increase spending on official development assistance (or overseas aid) to 0.5% of gross national income until 2017-18. This amounts to a cut of $1.9 billion from previously forecast aid levels over the period to June…
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Refugee tribunal a check against the culture of no
By Adam McBeth The Australian, on March 18, 2013, reported (paywall) on Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) figures that showed a remarkable 74 per cent success rate in the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) since July 2012 among people who arrived by boat. That figure is inflated somewhat by omitting cases that were withdrawn before a hearing…

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