Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

By Adam Fletcher* Earlier this month, the NSW Government announced that it is going to restrict criminal suspects’ right to silence to ‘tilt the scales of justice towards common sense.’ A Bill will be introduced by October to amend the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) “to allow juries and the judiciary to draw an adverse inference […]

By Adam Fletcher There is currently a case before the Victorian Supreme Court (Bare v Small and Others) in which a young Ethiopian man claims he was abused by Victoria Police (an officer allegedly broke his teeth against a gutter, capsicum-sprayed him while he was handcuffed and racially abused him during the course of an […]

Last October, I wrote about Australia’s need for more independent oversight of places where people are deprived of liberty – preferably under the framework of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). I am pleased to report that in the intervening months the Attorney-General’s Department has tabled a National Interest Analysis (NIA) for […]

By Adam Fletcher The government’s obligations to immigration detainees are very similar to those of prisoners. AAP/Dean Lewins A training manual instructing immigration detention centre guards to use force to incapacitate detainees was leaked this week. It included techniques to kick, punch and target pressure points on detainees. The Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen said […]

 By Adam Fletcher Last Wednesday, in the aftermath of the infamous Labor leadership showdown and when all eyes were on the Carr for Canberra drama, federal Parliament passed the Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Amendment Bill 2011. Unless I missed it, the passage of this Bill into law garnered not a single […]

Sarah Joseph Osama Bin Laden’s killing at the hands of US Navy SEALS on 1 May gives rise to some interesting international law issues. Here, I address some of those issues from a human rights perspective, concerning freedom from torture (regarding the intelligence used to find Bin Laden) and the right to life (regarding his […]

By Sarah Joseph So George Bush has admitted that he authorised waterboarding. In fact, he seem quite proud of it – damn right. Bush asserts that the practice saved lives. But one can never know if Bush’s assertions about the results of waterboarding are correct. Would more orthodox tactics have worked to gain the alleged life-saving information?  […]