The United Nations was born 70 years ago, emerging from the horrors of World War II. After the failure of its predecessor, the League of Nations, the UN heralded the dawn of a new era, with the promise…
Hardly an enthusiastic upholder of human rights, Qatar has been welcomed as a participant in R2P – even though that obligates it to do basically nothing.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has arrived in the UK on an official state visit and it seems that he will largely be welcomed in most quarters. Indeed, the British Conservative government’s approach to…
Stephen Harper shows a friendly face to the world.
Reuters/Chris Wattie
Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system – if you can call it that – has suddenly started to attract increased international scrutiny. Reports of the crucifixion sentence for a teenage protester and the…
Damage to Al Quds campus in the Abu Deis suburb of Jerusalem following an October raid.
Mojama'a Alanshita
Attorney-General George Brandis told the ABC that Australia co-operates with the United Nations in relation to its human rights obligations. Is that right?
The EU’s highest court has ruled that British prisoners can continue to be disenfranchised.
Mickael, from Eritrea, sits close to a security fence on the main access route to the ferry harbour terminal in Calais, France.
Reuters/Pascal Rossignol
The European obsession with labeling people either economic migrants or refugees hampers understanding of the problems they face. Adding the role remittances play to the debate would help.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has announced that Australia is running for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the period of 2018 to 2020. The bid was originally made by the previous government, and…
New horizons. The immense refugee camp at Zaatari in Jordan.
REUTERS/Pool
Away from the chaos of Europe’s borders, refugees are camped out in vast settlements close to their home countries and where restrictions on entrepreneurship are wasting talent and energy.
Dover is taking more than its fair share.
from www.shutterstock.com
One of the biggest problems in international development is that health statistics are badly kept in many of the countries with the most to gain. Finally something is being done about it.
The recent revelations about the savage treatment of Yazidi women at the hands of Islamic State, or ISIS, fighters is the latest in a shocking set of disclosures regarding the group’s behavior. It sadly…
Open access is crucial for South Africa and other developing countries.
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South Africa does some amazing research but cannot share it globally because of restrictive copyright laws or unreasonable policies and embargo periods set by publishers that limit their audience.
Religious arguments in opposition to same-sex marriage have been less explicit in Australia’s current debate.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Prominent arguments against same-sex marriage have been based on history, tradition, human rights, and social scientific research into health and welfare. The role of religion has been less explicit.
The Law Reform Commission has likely given George Brandis much more than he was expecting in the review of rights-limiting laws that he asked for.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The federal government has to be on the back foot after a Law Reform Commission report identified that It has been the champion of many rights-limiting laws.