In November 2013, the campaign group Abortion Rights announced their first-ever student conference. It was, they explained, in response to ‘many student unions reporting increased anti-choice activity on campuses’. Societies such as Oxford Students for Life, which I’ve been part of for the last couple of years, don’t tend to think of themselves as ‘anti-choice’, Read more
A nun from the Philippines known for her anti-mining advocacy is to receive a German human rights award. Sr Stella Matutina is this year’s recipient of the Weimar Award for Human Rights. The Benedictine nun will receive 2,500 euros [US$2,730], which she said will help support the advocacy of her organisation. She is secretary-general of the Read more
Rohingya migrants trafficked through deadly jungle camps have been sold to Thai fishing vessels as slaves to produce seafood sold across the world, the Guardian has established. So profitable is the trade in slaves that some local fishermen in Thailand have been converting their boats to carry Rohingya migrants instead of fish. A Guardian investigation Read more
The Tonga Privy Council says the Government’s plan to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is unconstitutional. King Tupou VI, with his Privy Council, was responding to petitions from groups in Tonga who have sought his help to stop the ratification process. The Government has committed to ratify CEDAW but Read more
Weeks after Scott Morrison became immigration minister in September 2013, a 17-year-old Iraqi boy at the Manus Island detention centre alleged he was “on a list” of a group of Iranian men who planned to gang rape him. He was moved to another compound, but lived in fear at the camp until three months later, Read more
Over the last few months, I have been completing a Masters in International Criminal Law at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in Turin, Italy. Over the last two weeks, our classes revolved around human rights — always a bit of a cringeworthy topic when one comes from Australia. Cringeworthy, because Read more
New Zealand is the best place on Earth to be a prostitute, says a local sex workers’ advocate. Catherine Healey, New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective national co-ordinator, told an Australian news website New Zealand was the best country to work in the sex industry. She said laws here around sex work were the world’s most effective Read more
Things may not be as rosy as they say in God’s own country. A Canterbury Community Law (CCL) investigation, which looked at access to justice for beneficiaries, says beneficiaries felt they were treated as “non-humans” by Work and Income – not even allowed access to toilets during lengthy waits at offices. “Beneficiaries are uniformly scared stiff Read more
Last December four unarmed West Papua teenagers were killed and 17 more West Papua people were injured when the Indonesian army and police opened fire on a group of peaceful protestors in Paniai. They had gathered to protest an earlier incident of violence by the Indonesian security forces. A four-minute video, shot by citizen journalists and Read more
Cardinal John Dew recently joined protesters concerned about empty Housing New Zealand properties and growing urgent housing lists. Dew told about 50 people at the protest on March 21 that 34,000 New Zealanders were either homeless or living in insecure homes. Good quality, safe shelter was a basic human right and New Zealand had a Read more