Australian Human Rights Commission
e-bulletin
August 2010
Welcome
Welcome to the August issue of the Australian Human Rights Commission's monthly e-bulletin, where we will keep you up-to-date with our latest programs, projects and news.
Please forward to friends and colleagues who have an interest in human rights and social justice issues.
In this e-bulletin
- National seminar series set to take off
- Australia can do better when it comes to protecting children's rights
- Need to do things differently to balance gender representation on boards
- See below for more...
National seminar series set to take off
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The Commission's guidelines and information for accessible design and construction. |
Staff from the Australian Human Rights Commission, in partnership with the Australian Building Codes Board, started a national seminar series on the Premises Standards this week.
Running in every capital city around Australia, the seminars kicked off in Brisbane on 12 August and will wrap up in Hobart on 9 September.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes, said the seminars were aimed primarily at designers, architects, developers, certifiers and building managers who were responsible for implementing the standards.
“The seminars will be an important opportunity for building professionals to receive training on the Premises Standards and their application to public buildings before the requirements come into force, which is expected to be on 1 May 2011," Commissioner Innes said.
“We expect the seminars will assist building professionals to play their part in ensuring public buildings are much more accessible for all Australians in the future.”
A free event is also being organised in each city for people with disability. For more information contact michael.small@humanrights.gov.au
Registration for the seminars can be completed at http://humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/buildings/ps_registration.htm
Australia can do better when it comes to protecting children’s rights
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President Branson delivers the Rights of the Child lecture. |
Commission President Catherine Branson QC, has told an audience of policy makers, academics, legal representatives, NGOs, and the general community that Australia could do a better job of protecting the fundamental human rights of children.
Delivering the 2010 Rights of the Child lecture in Canberra for Save the Children Australia, President Branson stressed the importance of considering children’s best interests as a fundamental part of all government decision-making.
She said overcoming Indigenous disadvantage was one of Australia’s greatest challenges, and highlighted the pressing obligation of governments to protect the rights of children experiencing mental ill-health and those experiencing homelessness.
“Children with mental ill-health have reduced capacity to engage with schooling, to form and maintain positive relationships and have poorer long-term outcomes than those in good mental health,” Ms Branson said.
She said children had a particularly traumatic experience of homelessness which disrupted schooling, family life, healthcare, nutrition, social networks and feelings of confidence and stability.
“The relative powerlessness of children makes the protection of their rights all the more important,” Ms Branson said.
Ms Branson said a national Children's Commissioner, if established, would raise awareness of the importance of children's rights.
Need to do things differently to balance gender representation on boards
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Left: Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner |
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick told the Sydney Institute earlier this month that the gender mix in board represenation would only be balanced when men started working with men to solve this problem.
Speaking alongside David Gonski, Chairman of ASX Limited, Ms Broderick said the issue of women’s leadership needed to be seen in a broader context of gender equality.
"We are well aware that the issue of women on corporate boards is not one which threatens basic human requirements like housing, food and safety, but there is a strong connection between how women are treated in corporate and business life and how women are treated everywhere across our country and internationally," Ms Broderick said.
She said Australia was leading the world on women’s educational attainment, with the majority of university graduates being female.
"Despite this we have a declining rate of women’s workforce participation, and according to the 2010 World Economic Forum report, we have dropped 10 countries in one year," Ms Broderick said.
"So we are going backwards, including at the senior leadership levels."
Commissioner Broderick said without a significant change in approach, we could expect more of the same.
Recent media releases
- Australia can do better when it comes to protecting children's rights
11 August - Recognition and participation must be priority for Australia’s Indigenous people
8 August 2010 - Great news at the movies for people with hearing or vision impairment (17 July 2010)
Recent submissions
- Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (6 July 2010)
Recent speeches
- A fair chance for every child: The right to survival and development - President, Catherine Branson QC (11 August 2010)
- Religion in the public square - President, Catherine Branson QC (23 July 2010)
- CEDAW Opening Statement - Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick (19 July 2010)
- The right to participate in decision making - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda (July 2010)
Recent podcasts
Two new Pod Rights episodes are now available.
Episode 14
Race Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes interviews the panel of five African Australian representatives who participated in the Commission’s three year national consultations with more than 2500 African Australians. The Commission recently completed a review of their experiences as they settle in Australia entitled, In our own words- African Australians: A review of human rights and social inclusion issues. The panel discusses some of the issues, solutions and best practice initiatives, identified during the consultations by African Australian people themselves, as well as observations and suggestions from over 150 government and non-government stakeholders and service providers.
Episode 13
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes speaks to Alex Varley, CEO of Media Access Australia, about the recent announcement that by 2014, the major cinema chains (Hoyts, Village, Event and Reading International) would provide captioning and audio description at every one of the 132 cinema complexes they operate in Australia, across 242 screens. Mr Varley discusses what audio description and captioning is and how it assists and enhances the cinema experience for the large number of people who are deaf, have hearing impairment, are blind, or have low vision.
Go to www.humanrights.gov.au/podcasts for audios and transcripts of all Pod Rights.
Get involved - upcoming events
- 12 August – 19 September 2010: Seminars on Building Premises Standards (Various locations)
- August 22 - 28: Hearing Awareness Week
- 5-11 September 2010: National Child Protection Week
For the latest media releases, speeches, opinion pieces, go to the media centre on the Commission’s website at: www.humanrights.gov.au/about/media/
