Australia Center

Known Centers based in Australia

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Australia Center The Australian Human Rights Institute Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) Centre for Human Rights Education Human Rights Council of Australia (HRCA) Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning

 

 

The Australian Human Rights Institute

- The University of New South Wales

 

Year Established: 2018

 

Short Historical Background

 

The Australian Human Rights Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute based in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales (UNSW). It builds on the foundations of the Australian Human Rights Centre, established in 1986, to promote public awareness and academic scholarship about domestic and international human rights standards, laws and procedures.

The Institute also publishes the Australian Journal of Human Rights and the Human Rights Defender and hosts a number of seminars and events each year.

 

Objectives

 

The Australian Human Rights Institute is a unique centre of knowledge in Australia and the world, for bringing together medical, engineering and legal minds to find human rights solutions. In three priority areas – business and human rights, health and human rights and gender justice – it produces research and policy outcomes for people in Australia and the Asia Pacific who are most in need of innovative responses. It works in partnership with government, industry, and human rights defenders in the community, so its research makes an impact in the real world.

 

 

Programs

 

Research topics

• Business and human rights
• Health and human rights
• Gender justice.

 

Activities

 

The Institute’s Annual Public Lecture features an Australian or international speaker on a topic of contemporary human rights significance. It continues in the tradition of the AHRCentre, whose inaugural speaker in 2005 was international author David Malouf, who spoke on ‘Challenging Indifference’.
 
The Institute also hosts many smaller discussions, seminars and workshops throughout the year.

 

 

Publications

 

•  The Australian Journal of Human Rights
•  Human Rights Defender

 

Address

 

The Australian Human Rights Institute

Faculty of Law

University of NSW

SYDNEY 2052 Australia

ph: (61 2) 9385 1803

e-mail: humanrights[a]unsw.edu.au

www.humanrights.unsw.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

- Monash University

 

Year Established: 2000

 

Short Historical Background

 

The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, based in the Faculty of Law at Monash University in Australia, is a research, education and policy centre which aims to create a more just world where human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled to allow all people to flourish in freedom and dignity.

 

The Castan Centre has a long history of defending and promoting the realisation of human rights in Australia. The Castan Centre was founded in 2000 by a group of academics and human rights advocates and was named in honour of Australian barrister and human rights advocate, Ron Castan AM QC. Ron Castan played a leading role in some of Australia’s most important cases, including the Mabo case which led to the recognition of the land rights of First Nations peoples in Australian law for the first time. 

 

Objectives

 

The Castan Centre works to influence law, policy, and practice; improve government officials’ understanding of human rights in Australia and elsewhere; and nurture the next generation of human rights leaders through our student programs. The Castan Centre also aims to engage the public in our work and foster public discourse on topical national and international human rights issues through public events.  

Programs and Activities

 

Research areas

The Castan Centre’s primary research focus areas are:

• Climate change and human rights
• Economic, social and cultural rights
• Gender and sexuality
• Technology, privacy and information

        ·  Indigenous peoples’ human rights

       ·  Charters of rights

 

Student educational and practical experience programs

The Castan Centre runs a number of human rights education programs, ranging from traditional theoretical human rights courses to more practical opportunities to engage with human rights in a clinical setting.

 

The Castan Centre’s traditional human rights courses are conducted across Monash University’s undergraduate and postgraduate law degrees. They introductory human rights units, such as:

•  Introduction to International Human Rights
•  Human Rights in Australian Law
•  Refugee Law
•  Human Rights Law: International and Comparative Perspective
•  Global Issues in Human Rights

More specific human rights units are also offered, including:

• Human Rights Advocacy

      ·  European Human Rights Law 

        ·  Business and Human Rights

        ·  International Refugee Law and Human Rights

•  International Human Rights Law and Women
• Discrimination Law and Human Rights at Work

        ·  Human Rights and Migration

• Sexual and Gender Minorities sand Human Rights
• Human Rights Adjudication

 

The Castan Centre’s practical education offerings take the form of clinics and internships. The Castan Centre Human Rights Clinic engages students in practical human rights work with a range of human rights organisations to effect real-world change. Internships provide students with the opportunity to work with Castan Centre Academic Members, engaging in activities such as drafting submissions to advocate for human rights-compliant law reform. Finally, we also offer an Indigenous Internships which provides First Nations students with the opportunity to work on issues relating to Indigenous rights.

 

Public events

The Castan Centre holds public events throughout the year which vary depending on topical human rights issues in Australia and around the world. Our regular public events include:

• The Castan Centre Human Rights Conference, which provides a space for human rights researchers, civil society advocates, lawyers, policymakers and members of the public to come together for a health check on the state of human rights in Australia and around the world.
• The Castan Centre Annual Lecture, held to mark Human Rights Day, which provides an opportunity for the public to hear an address from a leading figure in the world of human rights.

 

Publications

 

• The Castan Centre Human Rights Blog

 

     You can stay up-to-date on Castan Centre news and upcoming events by signing up to our mailing list here, and following us on           Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

Address

 

Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Faculty of Law

PO Box 12

Monash University

Victoria, Australia 3800

ph (61 3 )9905 3327

fax (61 3) 9905 5305

e-mail: castan.centre[a]law.monash.edu.au

www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre

 

 

 

 

Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS)

 

Year Established: 1999

 

Short Historical Background

 

CAPSTRANS is an Australian Research Council Key Centre for Teaching and Research and a joint venture of the University of Wollongong and the University of Newcastle. Although the boundaries of the Asia Pacific are contested, our research focus includes East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, the APEC economies and the countries of the Indian subcontinent.

 

Objective

 

CAPSTRANS aims to examine the rapid economic development and social transformation processes through innovative research by combining methods from a variety of disciplines, including political science, economics, management studies, sociology, anthropology, media studies, social history and language and literature studies

 

Programs

 

Research Program

CAPSTRANS concentrates on five interlinked research programs to achieve an understanding of social transformation in the Asia Pacific region:

- Mobility and Exclusion

- Globalization and International Development

- Australia in the Asia-Pacific

- Culture and Representation

- Globalization and Education

 

Teaching program

An important feature of the Centre's work is its contribution to postgraduate teaching programs in development and social change. Students enrolled in these coursework and research degrees benefit from their interactions with internationally recognized researchers. In turn, we see these students as a vital part of the Centre's intellectual activities.

 

Activities

 

CAPSTRANS is engaged in a series of collaborative research programs on how migration and other forms of mobility have led to the exclusion of some groups from development processes, and to limited opportunities to participate in political processes. Staff and students are currently working on projects that examine formulations of identity and citizenship along border zones intersect with gender, ethnicity, class and sexuality in shaping experiences of mobility and exclusion; and processes of democratization, including human rights and women's rights activism.

 

Special Concerns

 

The Asia Pacific region offers unique insights into social transformation processes triggered by national and international development policies and their effects at local, regional and transnational levels. A full list of the current research projects is available on CAPSTRANS website.

 

Publications

 

Books

• Communicating Conflict Multilingual Case Studies of the News Media, Elizabeth Thomson & Peter R.R. White, editors (Continuum Books, 2008)
• Hegemony: Studies in Consensus and Coercion, Richard Howson and Kylie Smith, editors (Routledge, 2008)
• Medi@sia: Global Media/tion In and Out of Context, Tod Joseph Miles Holden, editors (2006)
• Democracy and Civil Society: NGO Politics in Singapore, Terence Chong, James Gomez and Lenore Lyons (eds.) (2005)
• A State of Ambivalence: The Feminist Movement in Singapore, Lenore Lyons (Brill, 2004)
• Law and Development in East and Southeast Asia, Christoph Antons, editor (2003)
• Migration in the Asia Pacific: Population, Settlement and Citizenship, Robyn Iredale, Charles Hawksley and Stephen Castles, editors (Edward Elgar, 2003)
• Return Migration in the Asia Pacific, Robyn Iredale, Fei Guo, and Santi Rozario. (Edward Elgar, 2003)
• Television, Regulation and Civil Society in Asia, Philip Kitley. (Routledge Curzon, 2003)
• Globalization, Culture and Inequality in Asia, Timothy J. Scrase, Todd Joseph Miles Holden, and Scott Baum, editors (Trans Pacific Press, 2003) Book Chapters
• Ommundsen, W. “Productive crisis: cultural citizenship in social theory,” Cultural Citizenship and the Challenges of Globalization, Vandenberg, A., Ommundsen, W. & Leach, M., editors (Hampton Press: New Jersey, USA, 2010; pp 267-272)
• Ommundsen, W. “In Ren Jia Country: negotiating cultural belonging in Diaspora,” Cultural Citizenship and the Challenges of Globalization, Vandenberg, A., Ommundsen, W. & Leach, M., editors (Hampton Press: New Jersey, USA, 2010; pp 181-199)
• McLelland, M. J. & Suganuma, K., “Sexual minorities and human rights in Japan: an historical perspective,” Protection of Sexual Minorities since Stonewall: Progress and Stalemate in Developing and Developed Countries; Chan, P., editors (Routledge: Oxford, 2010; pp 196-210).

 

 

Address

 

Centre for Asia-Pacific Social Transformation Studies

University of Wollongong

Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia

ph (612) 4221 3780

fax (612) 4228 6313

e-mail: capstrans[a]uow.edu.au

www.capstrans.edu.au

 

 

 

Centre for Human Rights Education

 

Year Established: 2003

 

Short Historical Background

 

The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University was established in January 2003 following the appointment of Professor Jim Ife as inaugural Haruhisa Handa Professor of Human Rights Education. This appointment was made as a result of the generosity of Dr Haruhisa Handa in endowing the Chair in Human Rights Education, the first such chair in an Australian university.

 

The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin is an independent, inter and multi-disciplinary centre for local, national and international academic research, postgraduate teaching, critical scholarship and advocacy on human rights. Since 2003 the Centre has become well known for its commitment to understanding, analysing, promoting and responding to contemporary human rights issues and challenges. The Centre offers a dynamic and collaborative culture of learning and researching together with a practitioner-oriented and theoretically enriched approach to human rights. For more information, see humanrights.curtin.edu.au/about/history-and-philosophy

 

Objectives

 

The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University is a centre for research, postgraduate teaching, critical scholarship and advocacy on human rights. The Centre leads ethical scholarship, enabling individual agency and community engagement on human rights and social justice through the study and promotion of human rights at local, national and international levels.

 

Programs

 

The Centre provides a focal point for research, teaching and scholarly activity in the area of human rights education. In this context, education is understood in its broadest sense, including community education, raising awareness, promoting understanding and debate around human rights issues, and implementing human rights principles in a range of occupations, as well as education in formal settings of schools and universities.

 

The Centre offers the following courses at the Curtin Perth campus or fully online:

• Graduate Certificate in Human Rights
• Master of Human Rights
• MicroMasters in Human Rights through EdX.

 

 For more information, see humanrights.curtin.edu.au/courses and courses.curtin.edu.au/course_overview/curtin-online/micro-masters-human-rights

 

The Centre for Human Rights Education has a flourishing higher degree by research program. Our students come from across the globe and are currently involved in a diverse range of human rights research projects. Students enrolled in the PhD or MPhil programs are well supported with strong supervisors who have extensive expertise in the area. For more information, see humanrights.curtin.edu.au/research/degrees.

 

Activities

 

As well as the courses offered through the Centre, we organise public events around human rights issues, often in partnership with community groups. We also work in close collaboration with community groups to strengthen the foundations of our research and advocacy. For more information, see humanrights.curtin.edu.au/events 

 

Special concerns

 

The Centre currently engages in high impact research related to:

• refugees and asylum seekers;
• critical approaches to human rights education;
• Indigenous rights to knowledge and culture;
• critical disability studies;
• LGBTI human rights; and more.

 

Publications

 

• Briskman, L., Latham, S. and Goddard, C. (2008) Human Rights Overboard: Seeking asylum in Australia. Scribe Publishing, Melbourne
• Briskman L, Fiske L. (2013) ‘Critical social work with refugees and asylum seekers’. In Harms L, Marie C (eds), Social work: Contexts and Practice, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press: South Melbourne, Victoria
• Fleay, C. & Briskman, L. (2011) ‘Human Rights Education at Curtin University: The interconnections of education, research and advocacy’, in Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific, vol. 2, Human Rights Osaka, Osaka
• Fleay, C. (2016) ‘Bearing Witness and the Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention Centres in Australia’, in Deirdre Conlon and Nancy Hiemstra (eds), Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention: Critical Perspectives, Routledge: Oxford
• Pedersen, A., & Hartley, L. (2017)  False beliefs about asylum seekers to Australia: The role of confidence in such beliefs, prejudice and the third person effect.  The Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 11
• Goh, Bee Chen; Offord, Baden and Rob Garbutt (eds). (2012) Activating Human Rights and Peace: Theories, Practices and Contexts. Ashgate Press: London
• Christopher Newell and Baden Offord (eds). (2008) Activating Human Rights in Education: Exploration, Innovation and Transformation. Australian College of Educators: Deakin West, ACT
• Elizabeth Porter and Baden Offord (eds) (2006) Activating Human Rights. Peter Lang: London
• Offord, Baden. Homosexual Rights as Human Rights: Activism in Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. (2003) Peter Lang: London
• Woldeyes, Yirga Gelaw. (2016) Native Colonisation: Education and the Economy of Violence against Traditions in Ethiopia. Africa World Press and The Red Sea Press, Trenton, New Jersey.

 

To view all the publications written by Centre staff and adjuncts, please see our publications by author on our website: humanrights.curtin.edu.au/research/publications

 

Address

 

Centre for Human Rights Education

Curtin University

GPO Box U1987

PERTH WA 6845

ph (61-8) 9266 7186

e-mail: Baden.Offord[a]curtin.edu.au

humanrights.curtin.edu.au

 

 

Human Rights Council of Australia (HRCA)

 

Year Established: 1978

 

Short Historical Background

 

The Human Rights Council of Australia Inc. is a private non-governmental organization which promotes understanding of and respect for human rights for all persons without discrimination through adherence to the International Bill of Rights, and other human rights instruments, internationally and within Australia.

 

The Council was established in 1978 and for many years, under the leadership of James Dunn, has been an important link between the Australian human rights movement and human rights activists in other parts of the world. The Council is affiliated with the International League of Human Rights and has Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC.

 

The Human Rights Council of Australia Inc is incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 1984 (N.S.W.) and is a non-profit organization.

 

Objective

 

The Council aims

 

1. To promote a better understanding and the implementation of human rights;
2. To monitor and make public the performance of governments in complying with their international human rights obligations;
3. To contribute particularly to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia and the Asian-Pacific region;
4. To promote the further development of Australian policy with respect to human rights;
5. To undertake such other tasks as it may from time to time consider appropriate having regard to developments internationally and in Australia with respect to human rights.

 

Programs and Activities

 

The Council is active in many fields and endeavors concerning the promotion of human rights in Australia and throughout the world. It has pioneered the Rights Way to Development and been instrumental in raising awareness on issues such as landmines and sport and human rights.

 

The Council engages in the following activities:

• Conducting studies and where appropriate, taking action on matters of human rights as elaborated in the International Bill of Rights
• Supporting and publicizing the activities of and cooperating as appropriate with individuals, networks or organizations whose aims are consistent with those of the Human Rights Council of Australia
• Producing and/or distributing statements, reports or other materials on human rights issues collecting and collating studies already made on particular human rights issues, evaluating and adapting them with a view to their application in Australia and the Asian-Pacific region
• Obtaining information on cases/situations of violation of human rights
• Making representations to governments and appropriate bodies on human rights issues
• Engaging in and commissioning research projects, holding public meetings and seminars
• Promoting as appropriate the formulation and adoption of constitutions, conventions, treaties and other measures which guarantee the rights contained in the International Bill of Right
• Maintaining links with the United Nations and non-governmental agencies working in the field of human rights.

 

Special Concerns

The Council has special focus on the following:

• ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
• human rights audits of legislation
• economics and human rights
• business and human rights
• sport and human rights
• Indigenous human rights issues
• the Human Rights Approach to Development
• Australia’s commitment to human rights.

 

Publications

 

• The Rights Way to Development - A Human Rights Approach to Development Assistance
• The Rights Way to Development - Manual for a Human Rights Approach to Development Assistance
• Development – Policy and Practice
• Influencing Donors: A training programme for Southern NGOs.

 

Address

 

Human Rights Council of Australia, Inc.

PO Box 1071

North Sydney NSW 2059 Australia

ph 612) 9957 5200

fax (612) 9957 4063

e-mail: pearles[a]optusnet.com.au

http://hrca.org.au

 

 

 

 

Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC)

 

Year Established: 2006

Short Historical Background

The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) is an independent, notfor- profit, non-governmental organization. Established in 2006, it works in coalition with key partners, including community organizations, law firms and barristers, academics and experts, and international and domestic human rights organizations.

Over the last six years, HRLC has established constitutional protection of the right to vote, improved access to healthcare for prisoners, provided human rights training to over 15,000 people and held Australia to account for its human rights obligations on the international stage.

 

Objective

HRLC is dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights in Australia and through Australian foreign policy.

Programs

Over the next five years, the HRLC will focus on:

•  Strengthening legal recognition and protection of human rights;
•  Reforming anti-discrimination laws to promote substantive equality and address systemic discrimination;
•  Ensuring Australia engages positively and constructively with United Nations human rights bodies and respects and implements its international legal obligations;
•  Advocating that detention be used only as a last resort and that conditions in detention respect human rights and dignity;
•  Promoting human rights through Australian foreign policy;
•  Partnering with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organizations to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
•  Ensuring a human rights-based approach to police use of force and the investigation of police-related deaths;
•  Advocating a human rights-based approach to preventing and responding to violence against women.

Activities

HRLC seeks to achieve its aims through a strategic combination of evidence-based advocacy, research, litigation and education. We work in coalition with key partners, including community organizations, law firms and barristers, academics and experts, and international and domestic human rights organizations.

Publications

HRLC produces a monthly bulletin, Rights Agenda. (You can subscribe to the bulletin at www.hrlc.org.au/monthly-bulletin) All of the HRLC’s resources, publications and submissions are posted online and available at www.hrlc.org.au.

Address

Human Rights Law Centre Ltd (HRLC)
Level 17, 461 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
ph (61 3) 8636 4450
fax (61 3) 8636 4455
www.hrlc.org.au

 

 

 

Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning

 

 

Year Established: 1987

 

Short Historical Background

 

The Jumbunna Aboriginal Education Centre was first established in 1987 after persistent lobbying by Aboriginal students, notably Burruga Gutya (Ken Canning) and Frances Peters. Before Jumbunna was established Ken and Frances were the only Aboriginal students enrolled at the then NSW Institute of Technology. After just one year of operation the center's student enrolments increased to thirty. By 1993, two hundred seventy-five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were enrolled at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Initially Jumbunna was set up to provide cultural and academic support, tutorial assistance and counselling, as well as to address other student needs. Jumbunna has evolved over the years, and in 2001 was structured as an Indigenous House of Learning that supports students, promotes Australian Indigenous culture, history and philosophy across the university, and nurtures and develops Indigenous research and Indigenous researchers. Today, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning provides cultural and academic support for Australian Indigenous students studying at UTS, and undertakes research into matters of significance to Indigenous communities.

 

Objectives

 

Jumbunna aims

 

1. To focus on the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of Indigenous Australians;
2. To support the teaching and learning issues of Indigenous students, and the promotion of Indigenous Studies within the university;
3.  To undertake high quality research as well as advocacy of issues of concern to the Indigenous community; and
4. To provide advice and expertise in Indigenous areas as a contribution to the UTS community, the Australian Indigenous community, and at national and international forums.

 

Program

 

UTS has recently implemented a new Indigenous and Employment Policy, which takes a whole-of-university approach,

aligning UTS with national Indigenous higher education objectives and internationally recognized principles. This policy ensures that opportunities are created for all UTS students to gain knowledge of Indigenous Australia and embeds acts of Indigenous recognition and partnership within the public and ceremonial life of UTS. Two UTS-wide integrated Indigenous strategies have been put in place in support of this new policy: the Indigenous Education and Employment Strategy (encompassing student recruitment, support services, curriculum issues and research) and the Wingara Indigenous Employment Strategy. Both strategies set key objectives over a multi-year period and identify prominent staff across UTS who are responsible for their implementation, achievement and reporting. Senior staff from across UTS have partnered with Indigenous academic and non-academic staff to consolidate their expertise into five specialist sub-committees. These sub-committees report to an overarching Vice-Chancellor’s Indigenous Strategies Committee, which in turn is guided by a newly created Vice-Chancellor’s Indigenous Advisory Committee composed of external Indigenous community leaders and specialists. We believe this whole-of-university approach is one of the most comprehensive in the country.

 

Jumbunna has an outstanding and internationally recognized record of research output and Indigenous advocacy. Jumbunna aims to produce the highest quality research on Indigenous legal and policy issues and to develop highly skilled Indigenous researchers. Our research team is one of the few in the country that engages in inquiry and social advocacy based on conversations with the community. We ensure that our research outputs are published in accessible formats, which benefit the communities they were designed to support. Ours is the only Indigenous research team in Australia that champions issues through our active litigation arm.

 

Publications

 

Journals

•  Journal of Indigenous Policy (JIP)- provides a forum for intellectual discourse on Indigenous policy development and implementation as it affects the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia
•  Ngiya: Talk the Law (Ngiya) - challenges its readers and contributors to make a contribution to current debates about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal and policy issues.

 

 

Address

 

Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning

University of Technology Sydney

Tower Building, Level 17, No. 1 Broadway,

Broadway

PO Box 123, NSW 2007 Australia

ph (61-2) 95141902

Toll Free Number: 1800 064 312

fax (61-2) 95141894

e-mail: atsirecruitment[a]uts.edu.au

www.jumbunna.uts.edu.au/index.html

www.uts.edu.au/future-students/indigenous

 

 

AUSTRALIA

 

Directory of Asia-Pacific Human Rights Centers