Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Category: Auslaw

  • Short and long videos from our 2012 Conference – Professor Gareth Evans

    Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AO QC is one of the world’s leading experts on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine. We were fortunate enough to host him at our annual conference on 20 July this year and have posted two videos below. In this 7 minute Q&A video, Professor Evans discusses R2P and explains…

  • Pussy Riot: a new chapter in art versus power

    Pussy Riot is a collective of young, cool, smart women with attitude who may just be giving Russian President Vladimir a few sleepless nights. Pussy Riot engage in guerrilla punk protests, popping up unexpectedly at iconic sites in Moscow to blast punk songs critical of Putin. They are probably now the most globally recognised expression of the “Russian…

  • Is the Max Brenner protestors’ court victory an Australian legal watershed?

    By Adam Fletcher The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is controversial on at least two levels. First, it targets businesses, which some (including the Victorian Government) see as an illegitimate means of political protest. Secondly, it targets Israel, which some see as inherently anti-Jewish. This is not an article about the merits…

  • Human Rights and the Olympics: Games of Freedom or Oppression

    by Sarah Joseph When we think of the Olympic Games, we think of an athletic event: well-honed bodies at the peak of physical ability, performing feats most of us can only dream of. But, despite fervent assertions to the contrary by organisers, the Games are undoubtedly a political event, and over the decades have highlighted…

  • Short and long videos from our 2012 Conference – Tunisian blogger Sami Ben Gharbia

    We were very fortunate to host Tunisian blogger and anti-censorship activist Sami Ben Gharbia at our annual conference on 20 July this year.  Below are two videos of Mr Ben Gharbia, who is a founding Director of Global Voices Advocacy and Co-founder of the Tunisian award-winning collective blog nawaat.org. In this nine-minute Q&A video, shot…

  • So who is Julian Assange’s new lawyer, Baltasar Garzón?

    Acclaimed former Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzón has joined the legal team which represents Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. Wikileaks is engaged in legal actions aimed at lifting the financial embargo placed on it by Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, which has severely restricted avenues for donations to the organisation (indeed, Wikileaks recently won an action in this…