Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Author: Sarah Joseph

  • Time’s Person of the Year: The Protester

    by Sarah Joseph* Time Magazine has just announced its Person of the Year.  Appropriately, it is “The Protester”. The signature characteristic of 2011 has been the extraordinary outbreak of protests, demonstrations, riots, and even overthrows of government. Most obviously, there has been the “Arab Spring”. Two long-standing dictators, Ben-Ali and Mubarak, were, remarkably, overthrown in…

  • The Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) legislation: an important but “second best” development

    By Sarah Joseph New human rights legislation has finally been approved by the Federal Parliament. The Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 will require Ministers, when introducing legislation, to table a Statement of Compatibility outlining the extent to which the legislation complies with Australia’s international human rights obligations.  It will also create a Parliamentary Joint…

  • Plain packaging legislation and international investor rights: a challenge to Australia’s regulatory sovereignty

    by Sarah Joseph The much-discussed plain packaging legislation for cigarettes will come into force until December 2012.  Tobacco companies plan to wage a sustained campaign of “lawfare” against it, including a likely constitutional challenge and arbitral proceedings under a Hong Kong/Australia bilateral agreement. There is also the possibility of proceedings against Australia in the World…

  • The Occupy movement and the Importance of Civil Protest

    Sarah Joseph The “Occupy” movement has swept the world in the last five weeks, as seems appropriate in this year of demonstrations by people tired of a clapped-out status quo.  Of course, the Occupy movement is quite different to those that overran Tahrir Square or who now bravely withstand the bullets of the Syrian State. …

  • Andrew Bolt, Free Speech, and Racial Intolerance

    by Sarah Joseph In Eatock v Bolt, decided on September 28, the (in)famous conservative columnist and commentator Andrew Bolt was found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (the “RDA”) in writing two particular articles published in 2009, “It’s so hip to be black” and “White fellas in the black”.  In the articles,…

  • Troy Davis, the death penalty, and international human rights law

    by Sarah Joseph Troy Davis died late on Wednesday 21 September, executed by lethal injection in Jackson, Georgia for the murder in 1991 of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.  His execution provoked worldwide outrage, given that clear doubts over his guilt existed. Seven of nine witnesses had recanted from their testimony at his trial,…