The Guardian • human rights
Issue #2153
Kumanjayi Walker’s death a powerful call for justice reform
Australian Human Rights Commission Coronial findings on Kumanjayi Walker’s death a powerful call for justice reform. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner,...
Read moreTemporary victory won against “offensive” Texas abortion law
Delivering a temporary victory to fighters for women’s reproductive health, US District Judge Robert Pitman ordered an immediate injunction against Texas’s latest abortion restrictions –...
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Issue #2159
Welcoming Australia’s recognition of the State of Palestine
The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific welcomes the principled decision announced by the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime...
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Issue #2180
UN defends Albanese
The United Nations has stepped up its support for the world body’s special rapporteur on Palestine who is facing calls to resign. UN Human Rights...
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Issue #2095
HALF OF THE SKY
In a landmark victory for the working class, a group of Swiss women, united under the banner of KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz (Senior Women for Climate Protection)...
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Issue #2042
Immigration re-detention raids
Having introduced laws to over-turn the legal decision last December that saw 163 people released from immigration detention, the government has begun re-detaining people. It...
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Issue #2061
LETTER
Housing: a human right Re: “The Housing Crisis” (Guardian #2059 3rd July 2023) Dear comrade editor, Thank you, Denis Doherty, for your insightful article on...
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Issue #2104
Guna People of Panama
Climate change in the Caribbean has now forced the Islanders of Gardi Sugdub (Crab Island) to move due to rising sea levels. The residents’ houses...
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Issue #2101
Guatemala: can Arévalo improve human rights and corruption issues?
Recent human rights reports on Guatemala show a worrying trend in corruption and violence, despite the Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement) government’s anti-corruption platform. An Amnesty...
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Issue #2061
GLOBAL BRIEFS
BRITAIN: The number of construction workers killed in site accidents rose sharply from 29 to 45 last year, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has...
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Issue #2075
Freedom for Palestine: Naarm / Melbourne
On Sunday 15th October, thousands of Victorians from all walks of life gathered in front of the State Library of Victoria in one of the...
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Issue #2147
HALF THE SKY
‘Disposable people’ Tabitha Lean is a Gunditjmara woman and abolitionist from South Australia who has been criminalised by the so-called ‘justice’ system. Tabitha spoke at...
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Issue #2039
The right to protest should be law
Human rights and freedom are very popular terms at the moment, and it’s not hard to guess who is accused of violating them in Australian...
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Issue #2114
GLOBAL BRIEFS
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Hundreds of Dominicans demonstrated in front of the National Palace, Santo Domingo, demanding improvements to the Criminal Code. The protesters wanted a modern...
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Issue #2109
GLOBAL BRIEFS
USA: Postal workers are involved in the nation’s largest contract battle, as the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) fights for an improved collective bargaining agreement...
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Issue #2147
Trump uses ‘sliver’ to get past the law
President Donald Trump has turned over to the Department of Defence the Roosevelt Reservation to be used as a military base. This sliver of federal...
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Issue #2153
HALF THE SKY
Last month the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released a report outlining urgent reforms with the aim of addressing workplace sexual harassment. The Speaking from...
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Issue #2150
GLOBAL BRIEFS
COLOMBIA: President Gustavo Petro has reaffirmed the need for his proposed referendum on labour and social reforms, emphasising that peace in Colombia cannot be achieved...
Read moreAged care workers expose industry’s dirty secrets
After years of Federal Government inaction on aged care, aged care workers are speaking out to expose the daily understaffing and safety risks facing older Australians across the country.
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Issue #2102
China’s ‘Shared future for humankind’
For over a decade the People’s Republic of China has established the policy framework “Shared Future for Humankind” (literally in Chinese, 훙잚 츱頓 묾谿竟, rénlèi...
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Issue #2098
UK Rwanda scheme copies Australian failure
The UK has begun mass arrests of migrants in preparation for Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme. The UK Home Office, which manages immigration, has released...
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Issue #2155
46th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution
2025 marks the 46th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. On 19 July 1979 the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew the brutal US-backed,...
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Issue #2180
GLOBAL BRIEFS
UN: United Nations experts on human rights issued a joint statement on 12 February condemning the Executive Order signed by US President Trump on 29...
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Issue #2091
GLOBAL BRIEFS
YEMEN: Massive protests for Palestine continue across Yemen. Friday rallies attract millions of participants who march for Gaza. Last Friday was no exception – demonstrators...
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Issue #2023
DINGO
In July, the second asylum boat turn-back to Sri Lanka under the Albanese Labor government highlighted the fundamental breach of human rights involved in such...
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Issue #2039
US imperialism and the gangs of LA
By November 2022 over 58,000 people, accused of having gang affiliations had been arrested in El Salvador, filling up its already overcrowded prisons. Most arrests...
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Issue #2147
International Meeting in Solidarity with Cuba, anti-imperialism and against the resurgence of fascism
After celebrating May Day in Revolution Square, international delegates from 269 organisations representing 39 countries gathered to show their support to the Cuban people, the...
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Issue #2188
GLOBAL BRIEFS
JAPAN: The Japanese government has amended its arms export regulations (see “Japan scraps lethal weapons export ban” this issue). “A decision was made to amend...
Read moreWest Papua: 8 dead in latest attack
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) says that it carried out a successful “cleansing operation” against “soldiers/police officers” posing as illegal gold miners on...
Read moreThe Police-Industrial-Complex
US citizens believe they have the right to representative democracy, freedom of speech, religious worship, a free press, and equality before the law with a...
Read moreMcCarthyism on the rise in Australian universities
In Australia’s latest self-sabotaging attack on China, the Morrison government has released a proposal that targets students and academics at Australian universities
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Issue #2048
ASIO powers revisited
In 2002 legislation introduced by the Howard Coalition government represented the most dangerous offensive against civil liberties and democratic rights yet seen in Australia. The...
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Issue #2208
September 11 Chile coup commemoration marred by violence
The commemoration of the victims of the 11 September Coup in Chile has been marred by state violence. The important day commemorates the violent overthrow...
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Issue #2208
Nicolás Maduro is innocent
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is innocent. This is a statement of law and fact. Maduro has not been convicted of any crime. He has pleaded...
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Issue #2038
Every child
Every child has the right to a high-quality education, delivered by qualified and professional teachers in their local neighbourhood. It is Australia’s public education system...
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Issue #2028
Health care is a human right
Reports of emergency patients waiting up to thirty-six hours or more to be off-loaded from ambulances at public hospital emergency departments (EDs) are indicative of...
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Issue #2027
Landmark UN decision highlights Australia’s climate injustice
In news that will surprise no one, a United Nations Committee has found the former Coalition government to have violated the human rights of Torres...
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Issue #2194
An interview with Violet CoCo
Interviewer: Royce Kurmelovs Royce Kurmelovs: Can you explain a little about what happened? Violet CoCo: Yeah, so recently I was a part of the Freedom...
Read moreChina’s action plan for human rights
China has released their fifth National Human Rights Action Plan covering 2026-2030. Released at opening of the 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance, this...
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Issue #2090
Marcos Jr. addresses Parliament amid protests
The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr addressed parliament on 29 February 2024. Coming a week before the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit,...
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Issue #2194
Testaments to crimes
Australian survivors detained after participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla in solidarity with the Palestinians, say their ordeal extended beyond detention by Israel, alleging violence...
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Issue #2089
Contact: Sr Patricia Fox Phone: 0423 233 152 Email: australia-chrp@proton.me The House of Representatives & The Senate, Australian Parliament, Canberra, ACT. Open Letter 29 February...
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Issue #2152
ISDS: Trade in corporate power
One of Clive Palmer’s companies is suing the Australian government for $300 billion over the West Australian government’s refusal to grant an iron ore mining...
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Issue #2076
DINGO
Thick smoke enveloped extensive areas of the Brazilian Amazon as the region grapples with a surge in wildfires and a historic drought. In Manaus, a...
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Issue #2102
Statements from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The International Court of Justice The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) affirmed that what media reports and press investigations revealed about the...
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Issue #2159
We say ‘human rights,’ they say ‘tourists’
The Communist Party in Sydney has been campaigning for the NSW government to ban Israeli arms corporations from exhibiting their wares at the Indo Pacific...
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Issue #2132
Unite for rights
Reactionaries don’t need to be popular to stay in power – they just need to keep us distracted. While the cost-of-living spirals, wages stagnate, and...
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Issue #2092
Open letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong
Senator the Hon. Penny Wong Minister for Foreign Affairs PO Box 6100 Senate Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Re: Urgent call to Act against genocide....
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Issue #2210
WA ‘a US military outpost’
AUKUS is going to be huge for our state and WA Labor has just rolled out a red carpet. They don’t question anything that the...
Read moreGovernment falls short on human rights
The Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed concern about a lack of commitment by the Australian government to address some key failings identified in a...
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Issue #2074
Respect my ability
It took years of struggle by disability advocacy groups and PWD (people with disabilities) and their supporters before the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect...
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Issue #2123
DINGO
PM Anthony Albanese has rejected accusations from Beijing that his country is “plagued by systemic racism and hate crimes.” Beijing spoke out after an Australian...
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Issue #2075
DINGO
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows almost 40 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds reported experiencing a mental health disorder within the past...
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Issue #2076
Communist Party of Australia members show up for Palestine
Naarm/Melbourne Over 15,000 people attended a rally and march under the slogan Free Gaza. On a show of hands, this was the first Palestinian solidarity...
Read moreHomelessness in Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast
Human rights lawyers are challenging the City of Moreton Bay Council in northern Brisbane over the eviction and destruction of homeless camps on public land....
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Issue #2139
Australia: An Unofficial History
Australia: An Unofficial History is an uncomfortable watch in an important way. This may seem odd for a documentary series which presents itself as a...
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Issue #2194
DINGO
In an Australian first, the Federal Court last month accepted an application by a UN Special Rapporteur to make submissions in the Australian Conservation Foundation’s...
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Issue #2207
Independents propose ‘Red Lines’ laws
Independent Members and Senators have introduced a package of private bills jointly into both houses of parliament that would bring Australia’s domestic legislation into line...
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Issue #2122
Queensland Youth Crime: Election mythology and ‘copaganda’
Youth crime ‘crisis’ stories have dominated headlines and debates ahead of the Queensland state election. Liberal National Party (LNP) leader Crisafulli has pushed the slogan...
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Issue #2190
DINGO
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) says it is aware of a recent ABC report which exposed ‘Aussie Gigs’ as a sham booking agency...
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Issue #2076
Criminal Israel
Israel is carrying out collective punishment, committing the most barbarous and cruel atrocities on an unarmed civilian population who are confined to a small area...
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Issue #2202
Victoria erodes human rights in prisons
The Victorian government has passed a Bill in the Lower House which strips away one of the most basic human rights for people in Victorian...
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Issue #2162
A safer Northern Territory?
It has now been one year since the Country Liberal Party (CLP) returned to power in the Northern Territory. They promised to make communities safer,...
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Issue #2072
What’s housing for?
The Victorian Labor government has announced a big housing plan. Around ten thousand people will be moved from their homes – with no consultation, and...
Read moreWeaponising poverty
New legislation gives the government the power to cancel a person’s benefit because the police recommend it if there is a warrant for that person’s...
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Issue #2156
‘Gaza is starving’
Between early March and mid-May, for 80 consecutive days, Israel prevented any aid entering the Gaza Strip, in a calculated move to push the population...
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Issue #2147
EDITORIAL
What’s housing for? Is it for: a) making yourself wealthy? b) Making someone else wealthy? c) Living in? This sounds like a silly question, but...
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Issue #2204
Victoria’s Ben Carroll set to shred workers’ rights
The Victorian Ben Carroll Labor government is continuing with its attempt to shred workers rights to freedom of association with the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment...
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Issue #2192
UN raises ‘grave concerns’ about Indigenous children
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Commissioners for First Peoples’ rights, children and racism are calling on all Australian governments to address racism in Australia’s criminal...
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Issue #2162
EDITORIAL
It’s a war that started recently, but really it’s been going on for a long time. It’s appalling, but it’s so constant that people not...
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Issue #2164
CPA General Secretary/President honoured in NSW Parliament
Thursday, 11th September 2025 Today I would like to honour the extraordinary life of Dr Hannah Middleton who passed away on 12 June this year....
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Issue #2163
Anti-racism: the people stand up
Thousands of Australians marched in support of Indigenous sovereignty and against racism on Saturday 13 September. Thousands who already march every week to protest against...
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Issue #2168
Healthcare a human right
Australia now has an increasingly US-style, two-tier health system – a private one with massive co-payments that offers genuine primary and other health care and...
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Issue #2164
Gaza: “The world must act NOW!”
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, to the 60th session of the...
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Issue #2170
EDITORIAL
There’s a lot of bad news out there. This paper often tries to shine a light on bad news not reported elsewhere. This editorial is...
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