Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Category: Auslaw

  • The surprising escape bid of Julian Assange

    You’ve got to hand it to Julian Assange. He knows how to capture the imagination. In a surprise escape bid, he is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seeking political asylum. He now faces arrest for breach of bail conditions, though he can’t be touched by UK authorities while he remains on embassy premises.…

  • Lessons from the Chamberlain case: the human cost of wrongful conviction

    By Joanna Kyriakakis The Azaria Chamberlain case is a reminder that the criminal justice system does get it wrong, with each error bearing its own human cost. Last week, the Northern Territory Coroner’s office concluded an inquest into the cause of death of baby Azaria Chamberlain near Uluru on the night of 17 August 1980.…

  • World hunger can’t be saved with more food

    By Olivier De Schutter It is tempting to see the fight against hunger and malnutrition as a rare point of consensus amid an otherwise conflicted international agenda. The issue is seen as above politics, merely a question of technical adjustments: producing more food and getting it to the deficit areas. Yet this is a fundamental…

  • Challenges to the travesty of ASIO assessments for refugees

    Today a High Court hearing begins concerning the plight of refugees who are the subject of adverse ASIO assessments. Currently, there are 51 people in this situation, including the pregnant mother Ranjini and her two boys. They are people who have been determined to be genuine refugees under international and Australian law. Ordinarily, such people are granted a protection…

  • Reflections on Mabo

    The long anticipated telemovie “Mabo” aired last night on ABC1. Like many, I sat, transfixed, at this story of a proud Murray Island man, Eddie Koiki Mabo, his refusal to bow to endemic racism, his groundbreaking legal fight for Indigenous land rights, his untimely tragic death from cancer only a few months before his final…

  • Cambodian mothers and grandmothers behind bars after facing off the most powerful men in the region. Will the World Bank stand by them?

    Guest Bloggers: Natalie Bugalski and David Pred, Inclusive Development International Last week thirteen Cambodian women representatives of the Boeung Kak Lake community were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after a summary trial. The women, including a 72-year old grandmother, were arrested on May 22 whilst singing at a peaceful protest to support 18 families whose homes had…