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Facebook’s Dilemmas With Hate Speech, Fake Speech And Free Speech
By Sarah Joseph, Monash University If Facebook was an experiment in creating a true “marketplace of ideas,” the results are disappointing, naively utopian and sometimes dangerous. Yet the platform has no easy solution for the daunting problem of moderating its two billion subscribers. Social media provides an unprecedented mechanism for all people — or at […]
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The Khashoggi report to the UN Human Rights Council and the Rights to Life of Journalists
On Wednesday, 25 June, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings and Summary Executions, Agnes Callamard, presented her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council, including the widely anticipated results of her inquiry into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey in October 2018. Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist […]
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Hakeem Al-Araibi’s case is a test of world soccer’s human rights credentials. Here’s why
By Sarah Joseph Hakeem Al-Araibi’s case has become a crucial test of world football’s commitment to human rights. (picture – AAP/EPA Diego Azubel) Hakeem Al-Araibi is a refugee from Bahrain who plays semi-professional soccer in Melbourne for Pascoe Vale. He is a former member of the Bahraini national football team. He is currently detained in Thailand, the […]
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As the US leaves the UN Human Rights Council, it may leave more damage in its wake
Nikki Haley, the United States’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has announced the US will withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. AAP/EPA/Justin Lane By Sarah Joseph US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have announced the US was withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council (“HRC”). […]
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Roseanne’s implosion: when art, freedom of speech and social media collide
By Sarah Joseph Another one bites the dust. In posting a racist tweet that resulted in the US network ABC summarily cancelling her show, Roseanne Barr joins a long line of people who have blown up their career with a social media post. And, as is always the case with such episodes, a prominent strand […]
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Is Facebook’s business model compatible with human rights?
by Sarah Joseph Facebook’s actions – or inactions – facilitated breaches of privacy and human rights associated with democratic governance. EPA/Peter DaSilva Sarah Joseph, Monash University Facebook has had a bad few weeks. The social media giant had to apologise for failing to protect the personal data of millions of users from being accessed by […]
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Academic freedom and the suspension of Roz Ward
By Sarah Joseph The co-founder of the now-controversial Safe Schools Coalition, La Trobe academic Roz Ward, has been suspended by her university following a Facebook post in which she called the Australian flag racist, and suggested that it be replaced with the socialist red flag. New Matilda has reported that La Trobe University’s reasons were as […]
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Tony Abbott’s contempt for international human rights law
Tony Abbott’s open contempt for international human rights law Sarah Joseph, Monash University Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has penned an essay in Quadrant defending his government’s stance on national security. It betrays an extraordinarily open contempt for international human rights law. Mr Abbott starts by saying that he is proud that his government was […]
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Australia found to have breached the human rights of David Hicks
By Sarah Joseph The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) released its reasons in Hicks v Australia on February 16, 2016, in which it found that Australia had breached David Hicks’ right to be free from arbitrary detention. While the decision represents a measure of vindication for Hicks in the face of ongoing hostile disdain from the […]
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On the ground at Australia’s Universal Periodic Review
While Australia accepted the vast majority of the recommendations from the 2011 UPR…only 10% have been fully implemented.
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 