RightsBase

human rights news & views

US allies fail David Hicks

Even Afghanistan insisted its citizens be released from Guantánamo.  Why is David Hicks, with dual British and Australian citizenship, still there after nearly five years?  Why is anyone still there after the decision of the US Supreme Court that the proposed military tribunals are unlawful?  Why is Australia still supporting the continued detention and attempts […]

Close Guantánamo

The Cuban hit song Guantánamera celebrates the women of the seaside town of Guantánamo.  The lyrics speak of seeking refuge in the mountains in preference to the seashore.  There are about 460 involuntary Guantánamero (men) who might echo that sentiment. That such a place as the US detainment camps at Guantánamo exists at all, when […]

Evidence-based public policy

Criminologist Don Weatherburn, Director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in Sydney, argues persuasively for an evidence-based approach to crime prevention.  Scientific research is not inerrant, but in the long run it is far superior to ideology, 'common sense' or subjective experience as a basis for sound public policy. Prison policy too should […]

Geoffrey Robertson’s ‘The Tyrannicide Brief’

Esteemed human rights barrister and judge Geoffrey Robertson QC has always been a hero of mine. (Strictly speaking, Fred Astaire was a hero of mine long before I'd heard of Robertson and his Hypotheticals. I was devastated when my mother told me that Astaire probably wouldn't be available for tap lessons, but Robertson has never […]