Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
Some good news from the Northern Territory: The newly-elected NT Government has, for the first time, appointed a Minister for Youth Justice, marking a clear intention to consider the distinct needs of children in contact with the justice system. Earlier this week they also introduced legislation to ban the use of the horrific chair used …
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Over the last two months, the South Australia/Northern Territory Branch has been hard at work with partner organisations to put together a Schools Congress that teaches students about racism and cultural safety. The Branch has been working with Reconciliation South Australia and ActNow Theatre on the Schools Congress titled “Generation of Change”, which was an excellent …
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The Hobart and Joondalup local groups have held some stellar events over the past few months to build momentum for the national refugee campaign. Femke, Co-convenor of the Joondalup group in Western Australia reports: We started the Joondalup group in January this year, and we have been focused on recruiting new members to help us achieve …
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It’s really looking like the tides are turning. Last week was enormous for refugees and we saw a government under huge pressure, and on the defensive. The week started with a harrowing 4 Corners Episode, ‘The Forgotten Children’ featuring never seen before interviews of children on Nauru and our very own Anna Neistat — Amnesty …
The Northern Territory Government should be commended for its move to better protect the human rights of children detained in the Territory. Brutal restraint chairs will no longer be able to be used against children in the NT, under the Youth Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 introduced into NT Parliament yesterday. The Bill specifies that …
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Sometimes, a letter can change someone’s life. And that’s what ‘Write for Rights’ is all about. Amnesty’s global letter-writing campaign, Write for Rights, kicks off again in November 2016. Around the world, people will write to defend freedoms stolen from others. Last year, Amnesty supporters wrote an astonishing 3.7 million letters and messages as part …
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Since parliament returned after the election, we’ve been in touch with both new and returned politicians on a raft of our campaign issues. In particular, a focus has been to ensure the great steps taken in the last parliament when it comes to Australia’s role in the global death penalty abolition movement do not fall by …
Next week, Amnesty’s global head of research is coming to Australia to shine a light on the abuses occurring in the Government’s offshore processing of refugees. Meet Amnesty’s global head of research, Dr Anna Neistat Anna Neistat leads Amnesty’s research globally and has conducted over 60 investigations into human rights abuses, mainly in conflict areas. …
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After months of tireless emailing and calling, in October Amnesty’s Eastern suburbs action group met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to discuss Indigenous kids being sent to prison. The Eastern Suburbs group alongside youth worker, Just Reinvest ambassador and all-round Amnesty friend, Keenan Mundine, met with the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on 7 October. The …
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Guy Ragen represented AIA at this year’s World Congress Against the Death Penalty. Here’s what he learned. Every three years, the global movement for the death penalty’s abolition comes together at the World Congress Against the Death Penalty. This year’s Congress was held in Oslo, Norway in late June, and I was lucky enough to …
