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Ugandan Social Media Tax – Following a tradition of quelling dissent?
By Shardha Rajam and Mihika Poddar On June 1st this year, the Parliament of Uganda imposed a tax on usage of social media and internet messaging platforms such as Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. The Ugandan Government, which on prior occasions has shut down and regularly censored digital media, claimed that the tax was imposed to…
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Six months after marriage equality there’s much to celebrate – and still much to do
By Dr Paula Gerber, Monash University It has been six months since Australia declared that marriage is no longer an exclusively heterosexual institution. In that time, approximately 2,500 same-sex couples have been married, with NSW having the most weddings, closely followed by Victoria and Queensland. Many more couples, who married overseas before marriage equality was…
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This is how educating kids with disability must change
By Marius Smith Today we are launching our findings from an exhaustive investigation into the education of children with disability in Victoria’s mainstream government schools. How we are failing children with disability Based on almost 100 interviews with parents, former students, school staff and others, as well as a detailed review of relevant laws and policies,…
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As the US leaves the UN Human Rights Council, it may leave more damage in its wake
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”). In doing so, they claimed the council was a roadblock to genuine global human rights protection. This move by the Trump administration has been…
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Explainer: what are abortion clinic safe-access zones and where do they exist in Australia?
Flickr photo by jordan_uhl Tania Penovic, Monash University New South Wales recently became the fifth Australian jurisdiction to enact legislation that establishes safe-access zones around abortion clinics. The legislation is a response to picketing of clinics by anti-abortion protesters for more than two decades. These protesters characterise themselves as “sidewalk counsellors” but their conduct has…
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DEPORTING LONG TERM RESIDENTS: RECENT INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES AND LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIA
By Ella Casey, Maria O’Sullivan, Sean Paulding and Abby Zizek Introduction Governments worldwide are adopting an increasingly strict stance towards immigration, particularly in the context of populist government agendas that have created hostile environments for refugees and migrants. In the US and UK, authorities are attempting to deport large numbers of immigrants on…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 