"Asylum Seekers": Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2002)
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Worimi people who are the traditional owners of this land and a timely reminder that we are all immigrants to this vast continent.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Worimi people who are the traditional owners of this land and a timely reminder that we are all immigrants to this vast continent.
Union, University and Schools Club * check upon delivery Introduction Thank you to the Union, University and Schools Club for inviting me to speak and to Dr Mary Forbes for reaching out to. This is a wonderful event. Full of pride, full of celebration—and full of women and supportive men! Let me...
Learn more about the Commission's update to the Committee against Torture on the implementation of recommendations from their Concluding Observations.
I would like to commence my brief remarks tonight by acknowledging the success of the member organizations of ACFID. Clearly any organization whose constituent members in 2004 raised $487.4 million, or around 70%, annually of their funds, from the public with only about 14% coming from the government via AusAID is a very effective one indeed. This statistic is also vitally important when one considers the ramifications of how best to engage in constructive policy dialogue with federal governments of any political persuasion.
Thank you Mr Wishardt for your invitation and kind introduction. I would like also to acknowledge Ms Wendy McCarthy, under whose stewardship PLAN is sure to go from strength to strength.
Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.
Speech by Dr Sev Ozdowski at the United Nations Association of Australia - Tasmanian Branch - Human Rights Seminar: Human Rights from the Perspective of Individual, Collective and Corporate Responsibilities, Saturday 17 November 2001
In keeping with the focus of this agenda item on effective functioning of human rights mechanisms and national institutions I propose at the outset to briefly list some of the key areas with which the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has been involved over the past year. A more detailed account of those activities will be circulated. So here is an overview:
As Australia’s family law system becomes ever more complex and needs to respond to a greater diversity of clients, it is timely to review how it protects the human rights of individuals and their families, in particular the most vulnerable in our communities, including children and victims of family and domestic violence.
The Bill would amend the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO’s) compulsory questioning powers under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Cth) (ASIO Act).
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with all of you, and sleep with some of you. As you will have noticed, Vinnies was good enough to let my eleven-year-old daughter Rachel join me as my guide tonight, and she'll be the only one getting any of my cuddles. The rest of you have to make your own arrangements.
I should add, at this point, that my work over the past few years and my inquiry on children in immigration detention (CIDI), in Australia, the report of which "A last resort?" was tabled in the Australian Federal parliament in May of 2004, has made me even more keenly aware of the fragility of child asylum seekers. But more on that later!
Despite its rather grand title, this presentation will be a relatively modest attempt to set out the key challenges for human rights in Australia as I see them at the outset of my term as Human Rights Commissioner.
This submission highlights the vital role of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the OPCAT) in creating a proactive and formal safeguard to preventing violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with...