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Is the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Commonwealth a relic of the British Empire?
By Associate Professor Paula Gerber Last week The Conversation published an article by Timothy Jones entitled ‘Colonialism, Homophobia and the legality of gay sex in the Commonwealth’. Jones was highly critical of a recent report published by the Kaleidoscope Trust, entitled Speaking Out: the rights of LGBTI citizens from across the Commonwealth. He states that […]
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Our Prime Minister’s Sri Lanka performance: a human rights disaster
By Sarah Joseph AAP/Pau Osborne Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s performance over human rights in Sri Lanka in the last week was an utter disaster. His statements seemed to brush aside some of the most fundamental human rights values: prohibitions on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture. Context Sri Lanka finished a decades-long civil […]
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Decriminalising homosexuality worldwide: should Australia get involved?
By Paula Gerber, Monash University and Joel Gory, Monash University In Australia, there is an ongoing debate around the right for same-sex couples to marry. The majority of laws discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people were repealed in 2008. Earlier this year, the Sex Discrimination Act (1984) was also amended to prohibit […]