Human Rights Violations

Articles CHIEF JUSTICE NICHOLSON, AUSTRALIAN FAMILY LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG Alastair Nicholson retires in July 2004 after 16 years as Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia. In this article, based on a valedictory address, the author describes Nicholson CJ’s career. He introduces his theme by illustrating recent developments in the United States Supreme Court involving the use of the international law of human rights. By reference to decisions of Nicholson CJ, he identifies the legitimate use of international law in interpreting ambiguities in statutes; in developing the common law; and in understanding the meaning of the Australian Constitution. The limits of this process are also explained by reference to the recent High Court decision in MIMIA v B.

CHILDREN AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF FAMILY LAW by The Honourable Justice Alastair Nicholson AO RFD Chief Justice Family Court of Australia The last 100 years have seen the worst examples of human rights abuses that the world has known. Modern technology has provided a new scale to the atrocities that we can inflict upon each other. Quite apart from the two world wars, we have seen the Holocaust, the Armenian and Ruandan genocides, the Soviet Gulags, Vietnam, Cambodia and many others. All too often children have featured as among the principal victims. It is therefore not surprising that the nations of the world supported the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC).

Developments in Human Rights, Family Law and Law Reform Commentary by the Honourable Alastair Nicholson AO, RFD, QC I have been asked to speak briefly on a very wide ranging subject matter with the intention of provoking and allowing sufficient time for discussion. I would commence my remarks with a caution about the word “reform” as used by the Howard Government in particular. It has become a weasel word, often used to describe a great leap backwards, as exemplified by the industrial relations “reforms”. Although the recent changes to family law do contain some reforms in the genuine sense, I will also demonstrate that they also contain some Howard speak “reforms”, that I believe operate inimically to women and children.

Access to Justice and Legal Aid Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is the national peak body of the community welfare sector in Australia and the principal voice for low income and disadvantaged people in public policy matters. ACOSS has a long history of interest and activity in law and justice matters from the perspective of the needs and experiences of low income and disadvantaged Australians. In our work we also have extensive dealings with community organisations and others providing legal and advocacy services. This includes a number of our national and associate members. This submission is drawn from that knowledge base. ACOSS supports a comprehensive and integrated legal aid system – one which provides a standard range of assistance across the full spectrum of legal matters to all people in need, regardless of where they live. However, we also recognise that appropriate accountability mechanisms need to be in place regarding the expenditure of public funds under the independent legal aid system and that available funding is used efficaciously and distributed fairly. This submission is organised under the three component parts of the terms of reference for the Inquiry

Access to Justice and Legal Aid Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is the national peak body of the community welfare sector in Australia and the principal voice for low income and disadvantaged people in public policy matters. ACOSS has a long history of interest and activity in law and justice matters from the perspective of the needs and experiences of low income and disadvantaged Australians. In our work we also have extensive dealings with community organisations and others providing legal and advocacy services. This includes a number of our national and associate members. This submission is drawn from that knowledge base. ACOSS supports a comprehensive and integrated legal aid system – one which provides a standard range of assistance across the full spectrum of legal matters to all people in need, regardless of where they live. However, we also recognise that appropriate accountability mechanisms need to be in place regarding the expenditure of public funds under the independent legal aid system and that available funding is used efficaciously and distributed fairly. This submission is organised under the three component parts of the terms of reference for the Inquiry

Developments in Human Rights, Family Law and Law Reform Commentary by the Honourable Alastair Nicholson AO, RFD, QC I have been asked to speak briefly on a very wide ranging subject matter with the intention of provoking and allowing sufficient time for discussion. I would commence my remarks with a caution about the word “reform” as used by the Howard Government in particular. It has become a weasel word, often used to describe a great leap backwards, as exemplified by the industrial relations “reforms”. Although the recent changes to family law do contain some reforms in the genuine sense, I will also demonstrate that they also contain some Howard speak “reforms”, that I believe operate inimically to women and children. Before I get to family law however, I will briefly discuss the human rights situation. I believe that in this country we are seeing the greatest threat to the concept of human rights since they were adopted as an international norm following the Second World War.

Books The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights By Mireille Delmas-Marty, Christine Chodkiewicz The reason of State plays an important role under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Not only does Article 15 authorize States to take measures derogating from their obligations under the Convention in time of war or other public emergency, threatening the life of the nation'; most of the rights and liberties defined in the Convention are subject to escape clauses as well. This book demonstrates first that the system' of the Convention is much more ambiguous than could have been expected. Secondly, it shows, on the basis of study carried out in most of the Member States of the Council of Europe, that a certain resistance exists to the Convention. Neither the ambiguity of the European system, nor the resistance of States to the system must be overlooked. These should not, however, conceal the dynamics of the Europe/States relationship which could well lead to a more reasoned' conception of the reason of State. Has a Europe of human rights' begun to develop through the complex interplay of national and European norms? This is the question raised in this fascinating book.

Women's Rights, Human Rights By Julie Peters, Andrea Wolper Under democracy and dictatorship, in times of war and times of peace, women's human rights are violated daily and often systematically. Women may be denied the right to vote or hold office. They may be subjected to rape and sexual abuse by soldiers, police, employers, family members. They may not be free to choose when or whom to marry, or how many children to have and when to have them. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Yet women's freedom, dignity and equality are persistently compromised by law and by custom in ways that men's are not. The mere extension of existing human rights protection to women is insufficient: women's rights must be understood as human rights. Women's Rights, Human Rightspromises to be the most comprehensive and important book available on the subject of women's human rights worldwide. It includes contributions by activists, journalists,lawyers and scholars from twenty-one countries. The essays map the directions the movement for women's human rights is taking--and will take in the coming decades-- and the concomitant transformation of prevailing notions of rights and issues. The volume addresses such topics as the rapes in former Yugoslavia and efforts to see that a War Crimes Tribunal responds; domestic violence; trafficking of women into the sex trade; the persecution of lesbians; female genital mutilation; and reproductive rights. Women's Rights, Human Rightsprovides original and much-needed perspectives that will take the crucial issue of women's human rights through the nineties and beyond while articulating new agendas for dealing with them. Contributors:Charlotte Bunch, Gloria Careaga Pérez, Hilary Charlesworth, Rebecca J. Cook, Rhonda Copelon, Julie Dorf, Siobhan Dowd, Marsha Freeman, Elisabeth Friedman, Pamela Goldberg, Lori Heise, Rhoda E. Howard, Indira Jaising, NatalieHevener Kaufman, Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Liza Largoza-Maza, Stefanie A. Lindquist, Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Brigitte Mabandla, Julie Mertus, Akram Mirhosseini, Koki Muli, Ilka Tanya Payan, Hnin Hnin Pyne, Arati Rao, Huda A. Seif, Carmel Shalev, Elissavet Stamatopoulou, Maria Suarez Toro, Donna Sullivan, Dorothy Q. Thomas, Nahid Toubia, Sima Wali, Nadia H. Youssef, Zhu Hong