It is inevitable that Australia will, in the not-too-distant future, allow two people to marry regardless of their gender. But which prime minister will get to claim this as their legacy?
Donald Trump’s confusion about rights is perhaps no greater than that of many people, who are given little reason by political leaders to understand rights seriously.
Members of the Non-Aligned Movement meet at the session of the 17th summit of heads of state and government.
DIRCO
The Non-Aligned Movement member states enjoy cohesion on few issues. Historically, their heterogeneity ranged from absolute monarchs to socialist presidents.
The scene after an Islamic State bombing in Damascus.
EPA/Youssef Badawi
Even if the war in Syria is somehow brought to a close, prosecuting IS members for the crimes they’ve committed won’t be easy.
Sexuality, since it is imbued with moral panics, has for a long time been used strategically for political purposes.
www.shutterstock.com/Romolo Tavani
In an increasingly mobile society and economy, the international governance of migrant labour lags way behind the forces of globalisation.
Insulting Barack Obama made the headlines, but Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks referred to a long and dark history of US interference in the Philippines.
Narendra Shresthma, Mast Irham/EPA
The people of the Philippines and their president know all too well the hypocrisy of being lectured by the United States about violence, human rights and democracy.
These Yazidi sisters managed to escape captivity by Islamic State. Thousands more were not so lucky.
Reuters
It is no threat to UK sovereignty and protects vulnerable citizens – so why replace the Human Rights Act?
Until 2013, laws in every Australian state and territory allowed people to be forced to have psychiatric treatment even if they competently refused it.
from shutterstock.com
Until 2013, Australian state and territory laws allowed forcing people into psychiatric treatment if it was thought necessary to protect them from serious harm – even if they competently refused it.
Australia has a higher proportion of inmates in privately operated prisons than any other country.
AAP/Paul Miller
To understand Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power and the public support for killing drug dealers and users, we need to distinguish the empirical from the normative – the ‘what is’ from ‘what should be’.
A blueprint for ISIS – and for a video game? Camp Bucca, Iraq.
Atef Hassan/Reuters
Does including torture or other human rights violations in video games trivialize the actions? Or might it force us to think more critically about them?
South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks, block a street during an operation.
Independent Media/Picture:Bhekikhaya Mabaso
The main criticism leveled at the body that oversees the work of South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks, is that it lacks the power to initiate investigations, making it ineffective.
George Brandis (centre) was ‘the guest’ of the co-ordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Wiranto (right), during a recent visit to Indonesia.
Matius Murib
It has taken more than three months for the Australian and PNG governments to jointly announce the Manus Island detention centre will close. But the detainees’ fate is now even more uncertain.