Dear National Human Rights Consultation Committee,
I would like to submit to the Committee Geoffrey Robertson's Statute of Liberty: How Australians can Take Back their Rights (Vintage, Sydney 2009) in its entirety. I hope he has done so already. I'm sure you have it.
I work in human rights, and I thought I had […]
When people like Desmond Tutu describe the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as apartheid, it's not mere hyperbole.
Israel's self-proclaimed 'policy of separation' seeks to segregate Palestinians and Jews in the West Bank, writes Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard.
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning literally, separateness. It's hard to see how Israel's policy […]
For all the high-profile anti-poverty advocacy of its frontman, Bono, Irish rock band U2 has copped a hiding from compatriots for tax evasion in their homeland.
Though all four band members live in Ireland, the band's publishing arm relocated to the Netherlands in 2006, after Ireland capped tax-free earnings for artists at €250,000. Meanwhile, ordinary Irish […]
The "villains' charter" debate has reached Australia, it would seem.
Reviewing Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities 12 months after it came into effect, the Sunday Herald-Sun's 'star political reporter' Ellen Whinnett wrote last month that the Charter had been "hijacked by criminals."
Her view echoes Britain's Daily Mail which attacks the UK's 'disastrous' Human Rights […]
The awarding of the highest US civilian honour, the Medal of Freedom, to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard this month (left) was staggering to human rights activists familiar with his record.
Even more galling was the same award given to Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe.
The Presidential Medal is intended to recognise an "especially meritorious contribution" to […]
There have been prisoners-of-war (POWs) as long as there has been war, but international recognition of their right to protection from abuse is much more recent.
The Red Cross has counted over 500 recorded texts attempting to regulate hostilities prior to modern laws of war. The Chinese, […]
Last month at the UN General Assembly, rock legend Bono lamented that for ten years he has begged the G8 for US$25 billion to relieve hunger and disease in Africa, with limited success. Suddenly, the United States has $700 billion to spend on Wall Street.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz estimates that the US bailout package […]
All but one of the 'Raytheon 9' war resisters were acquitted by a Belfast jury yesterday of all charges.
In August 2006 Colm Bryce, Gary Donnelly, Kieran Gallagher, Michael Gallagher, Sean Heaton, Jimmy Kelly, Eamonn McCann, Paddy McDaid and Eamonn O'Donnell broke into the Derry offices of US arms manufacturer Raytheon (pictured right) and […]
The trail of the 'Raytheon 9' enters its likely final week. These nine men occupied the Derry offices of an arms manufacturer for 8 hours back in August 2006 with the purpose of preventing war crimes. Claims Eamonn McCann, due to take the stand this week:
"Israel had dropped so many bombs over southern Lebanon, south […]
The Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition (DESi) is the world’s largest ‘fully integrated’ arms fair held every other year in London’s Docklands. 1,200 companies from 36 countries come together in an ‘optimal business environment’ to exhibit their wares and ‘network for future growth’ with thousands of visitors over four ‘packed’ days.
At the 2007 exhibition, […]