Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Annual Report 2000-2001
Human
Rights Commissioner and acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner,
Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM
Dr Ozdowski has made public education on human rights a priority for his term. Other priority areas are the elderly in our ageing society and children. Dr Ozdowski is working to progress the Commission’s 2000 recommendations for alleviating age discrimination, as set out in the report Age matters: a report on age discrimination.
Chris Sidoti’s term as Human Rights Commissioner ended on 13 August 2000
Education and promotion
National Human Rights Dialogue
Research on public attitudes to human rights suggests that, on one hand, Australians are committed to human rights ideals. They are comfortable with the general notion of rights and freedoms and share a core national value of basic justice and fairness expressed in the “fair go” ideal.
On the other hand, a number of trends appear to be emerging that indicate a marked shift in perceptions of human rights achievements during the course of the 1990s. In a survey undertaken by ANU’s Social Science Data Archive in 1991 almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents said that Australia is yet to achieve equal rights for all. By decade’s end almost as many (60%) felt that, at least for migrants and women, equal opportunity had been achieved.
There is also a disturbing lack of knowledge about key human rights laws and procedures. Contrary to the fact that international human rights treaties need to be ratified and incorporated into domestic legislation by the Australian Parliament before they can operate as domestic law, many people believe that human rights are imposed upon Australia – in violation of Australian sovereignty – by the United Nations, which in turn is portrayed as an unaccountable world government. There is a continuing perception that human rights serve only special interest groups at the expense of the majority and in violation of the cherished ideal of equality. Many Australians remain unsure about the extent to which their own rights are protected.
To address these issues, Dr Ozdowski has established the National Human Rights Dialogue which aims to provide leadership, information and opportunities for debate, especially about topical human rights issues and about how to strengthen the machinery for the protection of human rights in Australia. The Commissioner believes that winning the hearts and minds of all Australians is necessary for further advancement of human rights protection in Australia.
Dr Ozdowski’s National Human Rights Dialogue has three principal objectives:
1. To increase public awareness of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the role of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
2. To stimulate public debate about human rights issues in Australia including the effectiveness of existing Australian human rights protections and the need for a bill of rights.
3. To build a network of interested people and organisations promoting human rights in Australia.
An honorary advisory group has been appointed constituted by:
- Mr Gerald Frape, Director, Dialogue Media Pty Ltd
- Professor Andrew Jakubowicz, Professor of Sociology, University of Technology Sydney
- Ms Josie Lacey, Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia
- Mr Peter Murphy, NOW We the People
- Mr Peter O’Brien, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation
- Mr Chris Sidoti, Visiting Professor, University of Western Sydney
The advice of this group, supplemented by information and analysis provided by Mr Mark Nolan from the ANU, has been invaluable.
To date Dr Ozdowski has addressed a number of meetings, met with many federal, State and Territory MPs and peak non-government organisation leaders and participated in consultation meetings in Alice Springs, Broome, Perth, Tuggerah Lakes and elsewhere. The National Human Rights Dialogue website is regularly updated:http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/human_rights_dialogue/index.html
Immigration detention centres
The Human Rights Commissioner continues to monitor conditions at immigration detention centres and the treatment of detainees. In the past year the following centres have been inspected:
- Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre, Melbourne, 18 July 2000 and 22 March 2001.
- Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, Sydney, 23 August 2000.
- Perth Immigration Detention Centre, 4 September 2000 and 29 June 2001.
- Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, SA, 28 February 2001.
- Curtin Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, near Derby in WA, 29 July 2000 and 25 and 26 June 2001.
- Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, WA, 28 June 2001.
Following each inspection the conditions and treatment are evaluated by reference to the Commission’s Immigration Detention Guidelines (March 2000) which collate international minimum standards on detention. Comments and suggestions are communicated to the immigration detention authorities.
A report on Commissioner Sidoti’s visit to the Curtin Immigration Reception and Processing Centre on 29 July 2000 has been published on the Commission’s website. Dr Ozdowski will report on his 2001 inspections next year.
Prisoners as Citizens
A project entitled ‘Prisoners as Citizens’ aims to raise public awareness of and discussion about prisoners’ human rights. It has two components. The first was a workshop convened in Sydney on 27 November 2000 with more than 120 participants. The workshop was addressed by two keynote speakers: Dr William Jonas AM, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, and Baroness Vivien Stern from the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College London who travelled to Australia as a guest of the Commission.
A panel on existing avenues for redressing prisoners’ grievances and their limitations followed with presentations from Ms Karen Fletcher, Queensland Prisoners’ Legal Service, Mr Lindsay Le Compte, NSW Inspector-General of Corrective Services, Mr Greg Andrews, NSW Assistant Ombudsman, Ms Maggie Smythe, NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, and Mr John Pace, Australian Human Rights Centre. The Hon. Elizabeth Evatt, then a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, provided a paper dealing with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights but was regrettably unable to attend the workshop due to her international commitments.
Participants then moved into one of five working groups dealing with:
- Strategies to encourage the formal adoption of the Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia.
- Strategies for ensuring minority prisoners can enjoy their entitlements
- Building prisoners’ knowledge and capacities to assert their rights.
- The implementation of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners with respect to the responsibilities, qualifications and training of prison personnel.
- Benchmarking prison services including health care.
The second component of the project involves the publication of a book of contributions on prisoners’ rights. More than 50 submissions were received from serving prisoners, who were invited to write by means of a pamphlet sent to all jurisdictions for distribution in every prison. The Commission records its appreciation to each Australian correctional authority for assisting us in making the project known to prisoners. The book is due for publication late in 2001.
Children’s participation – Action Exchange
The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that every child is capable of forming his or her own views and has the right to express them freely in all matters affecting the child. Action Exchange aims to promote children’s participation through an interactive webpage on the ‘Lawstuff’ website of the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre. It features models of child and youth participation in collective actions in children’s interests. Among them are seven entries to a national competition promoting the site: www.lawstuff.org.au . The Commission records its appreciation to the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre for its creative participation in this project and for hosting the Action Exchange site. We are also grateful to the 13 projects which entered the competition and congratulate them all on their efforts. The winners were:
- Youth Radio Show, 4ZzZ (Brisbane)
- ‘Turn it Up’ youth radio at South Sydney Youth Services
- City of Swan Youth Advisory Council (Perth)
- VicSTARs (a reconciliation group in Victoria)
- Reach Out! Youth Advisory Board (on-line)
- Port Augusta Anti-Bullying Council (SA)
- Princes Hill Secondary College Student Action Team (Victoria).
Three regional water authorities have combined in a partnership with Mallee Family Care to establish a fund ‘to ensure that the absence of money does not stand in the way of a youngster’s ability to achieve their maximum potential’. Although only launched in mid-June 2001, Chances for Children has already granted assistance to a number of young people from the region who commenced tertiary studies during the year.
Rural health initiatives
During the Commission’s 1998-99 Bush Talks consultations, inadequate, inaccessible and diminishing health services emerged as the principal human rights concern. In response the Commission decided to promote local health initiatives addressing local health service gaps. The Healthy Rural Communities website highlights innovative community health projects in remote and rural areas of Australia: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/rural_health/index.html .
Featured on the site are:
- Community Health Adolescent Murraylands Peer Support (CHAMPS) (South Australia)
- Coming Home - a workshop on Rural Careers in Health for Year 10 students (NSW)
- Desert Acrobats (Western Australia)
- Nyirrpi Grandmothers’ Women’s Health Program (Northern Territory)
- Sage Hill Carers’ Service (Victoria)
- Yeoval Multi-Purpose Health Centre (NSW).
The website also describes the human right to health and provides links to government and other health funding sources.
Balancing freedom of religion and freedom from religious discrimination
During the year the Commission engaged in extensive national consultations on employers’ responsibility to avoid discrimination on the ground of religion in relation to employment and the rights of religious institutions to select certain staff on the basis of their religious affiliations, at least in part. The resulting information paper entitled The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth): its application to religious freedom and the right to non-discrimination in employment has been published at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/religion/index.html
Research and policy
National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education
The National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education conducted by Commissioner Sidoti concluded during the year with the production and distribution of three publications. This followed the tabling of its report, Recommendations, on 28 June 2000. The report made 73 recommendations for action by the Commonwealth, State and Territory education providers, non-government education providers and others. The government has yet to respond to the recommendations.
In July 2000 the Commission published School Communities detailing models for community participation in schools. Education Access, which sets out case studies of children with restricted or no access to a school or adequate curriculum, was launched in August. A short CD, Student Voices, was produced for schools which had participated in the inquiry. It features the views and experiences of some of the students who gave evidence to the inquiry.
These publications have been widely distributed to inquiry witnesses, schools in rural and remote areas, public libraries in country areas and State and federal MPs in rural electorates. They are now out of print but can be downloaded from the Commission’s website: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/rural_education/index.html
UN General Assembly Special Session on Children
The UN General Assembly will convene a special session in New York in September 2001 to review progress in the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children and to determine new goals and initiatives.
Dr Ozdowski participated in the third preparatory conference held in June 2001 and intends to attend the Special Session. In preparation for his participation he will consult with Australian children’s and youth organisations with the assistance of Children’s Commissioners at the State level, where they exist, and others.
Information about the Special Session and the Commissioner’s activities can be found on the Commission’s website at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/child_special_session/index.html
Legislative reform and assessment
Age discrimination inquiry
The report of the Commission’s inquiry into age discrimination, Age Matters, was tabled in the Parliament on 28 June 2000 and officially launched at a function hosted by the Council on the Ageing Australia in Melbourne on 18 July 2000. The report makes recommendations for Commonwealth compliance with the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (ILO 111) and also with the non-discrimination and equality before the law provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC). Among a range of proposals is the recommendation that protection against age discrimination needs to be strengthened with legislation at the federal level.
Norfolk Island electoral reforms
In March 2001 Dr Ozdowski made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories inquiry into Norfolk Island Electoral Matters. The submission outlined the human rights issues relevant to reform of the franchise under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee has yet to report on its inquiry.
Serious and organised crime investigation
In May 2001 Dr Ozdowski made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee inquiry into the Measures to Combat Serious and Organised Crime Bill 2001. Dr Ozdowski drew particular attention into the inadequate measures proposed to ensure that people with hearing impairments or intellectual disabilities understand the caution informing them of the right to remain silent during police questioning. The Inquiry’s June 2001 report includes the recommendation that “the Government, in reconsidering the drafting of the proposed amendments, take account of the submission of the Human Rights and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, particularly as it relates to the manner of giving the caution” (page 43).
Speeches
Attached is a selection of speeches, seminars and presentations made by the Human Rights Commissioners in the reporting period. Selected papers are available on the Commission’s website at: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/speeches/
Commissioner Chris Sidoti – 1 July-13 August 2000
3 July 00, “Education: rural children’s right” – AADES/SPERA International Conference, Cairns.
16 July 00, “Expectations of rural and remote students” - National Council of Independent Schools’ Associations 2000 National Conference, Barossa Valley.
27 July 00, “School communities: working together to secure our children’s future” – Notre Dame University, Broome.
3 August 00, “Access to education: a human right for every child” - 29th Annual Federal Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association Conference, Griffith.
Dr Sev Ozdowski – 8 December 2000 - 30 June 2001
29 March 01, “Human Rights and Multiculturalism” - Multiculturalism in a New Millennium Policy Forum, Brisbane.
19 June 01, “Human Rights in Contemporary Australia” - Centre for
Intercultural Studies and Multicultural Education, University of Adelaide.20 June 01, “What are human rights?” – Rotary Club of Adelaide.
23 June 01, “The Human Rights Commission and its role in supporting the
principles of the UN system” - 2001 National Conference of the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), Canberra.
