Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Author: Adam Fletcher

  • Extradition and Mutual Assistance Changes Slip in under the Radar

     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…

  • Human Rights are not Luxuries

    By Adam Fletcher I was saddened on the weekend to learn of the demise of the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy, which was announced by its board last Thursday. In the course of my human rights work both in Australia and Switzerland I’ve had the pleasure of drawing on many of ICHRP’s reports…

  • Turning Back the Boats – Back to the Future on Asylum Policy

    By Adam Fletcher 2012, it occurred to me today, marks a full decade since I began studying, writing about and (after graduation) giving legal advice on Australia’s international obligations in respect of asylum-seekers and refugees. The more things change in this area, the more they stay the same. The war in Afghanistan is still not…

  • Rolling the Federal Anti-Discrimination Acts into One ‘Great Big New Law’

    By Adam Fletcher As part of its National Human Rights Framework released in April last year, the Federal Government announced its commitment to re-engage with the international human rights system and take several measures here in Australia to improve protection of, and respect for, human rights. One of these measures was the consolidation of the…

  • Can the Australian Government Return Unsuccessful Asylum-seekers to Afghanistan?

    By Adam Fletcher Yesterday it was reported on the ABC that unsuccessful asylum-seeker Ismail Mirza Jan is to be the first to be returned to Afghanistan involuntarily. This last word is important, because previous returnees have all accepted what’s known as an Assisted Voluntary Return package. These sorts of packages were also offered by the…

  • Retrospective People Smuggling Bill: a Breach of our Constitution?

    By Adam Fletcher The major parties put aside their differences on immigration policy in the House of Representatives last week to pass the Deterring People Smuggling Bill 2011 (the Bill). Despite its name, the Bill is a ‘clarification’ of the people smuggling offences in the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) designed to make successful prosecutions easier.…