Human Rights Summary Notes
Human Rights Summary Notes
Human Rights Summary Notes
● Human Rights: are the rights and freedoms that are believed to belong to all human
beings. Human Rights are universal, indivisible, inalienable and inherent.
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which the UN adopted in 1948 sets out
the reason we recognise HR - UDHR specifies that HR are inalienable and equal for all
● Key terms:
○ Universal: applicable to all
○ Indivisible: All rights are equally important
○ Inalienable: Cannot be taken away
○ Inherent: They are permanent
● Nation states have an obligation, both legally and morally to uphold these rights
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➔ Universal Suffrage:
● Suffrage refers to the legal right to vote in a democratic election.
● The right to vote was recognised as a universal human right in Article 21 of the UDHR
➔ Universal Education:
● All human beings have the right to an education.
● In NSW, the Public Instruction Act 1880 (NSW) led to the government making education
free, secular, and compulsory.
● As a result, the Australian population has a 99% literacy rate.
● The right to free education is included under Article 26 of the UDHR.
● Education is no longer a desirable luxury, but a basic human right
➔ Self-Determination:
● This is a collective right belonging to a group.
● People of territory have the right to determine their political status.
● The right to self-determination is contained in Article 12 of the UN Charter & Article 1
of the ICESCR
➔ Environmental Rights:
● These are seen as essential to securing and promoting other human rights. Including, the
right to life.
● Stockholm Declaration (1972), Rio Declaration (1992) and Kyoto Protocol (1997) are all
attempts made by the international community to deal with global warming, spread of
epidemics, marine and atmospheric pollution.
● The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 aims to protect the
rights of all flora and fauna communities.
➔ Peace Rights:
● These are the rights for individuals to live in peace and harmony (collective right)
● Article 51 of the UN Charter declares that states have the inherent right to individual or
collective self-defence if an armed attack against them occurs.
● Under Article 39 of the UN Charter, the UN Security Council can authorise actions to
maintain or restore peace
● The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction to try individual people for war crimes
and crimes against the international community.
Formal Statements
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● Became part of international customary law, and continues to monitor and report on the
state of human rights around the world.
● The declaration is soft law as it does not create legal obligations upon states.
● Influenced by NGOs → media, Amnesty International etc.
● Been a catalyst for more than 200 treaties, conventions, declarations, and bills of rights
across the world.
● Part of international customary law ⇒ concepts that have developed in a way that has
endured time to the extent that they are widely accepted
➔ State Sovereignty:
● Authority for a state to make decisions on behalf of itself concerning domestic and
international issues.
● State sovereignty contains limitations on the basis that states have an obligation to adhere
to international documents that it has ratified.
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➔ United Nations:
● The UN is an intergovernmental organisation that came into existence after the end of
WWII.
● The UN has substantial influence over world order.
● Their main aim is to promote world peace and enforce human rights.
● The UN has 193 members
● Australia is a member of the U.N. since the end of WWII
UN General ● Representatives from all member states and each state have
Assembly equal voting power.
● Main forum for international discussions, many relating to
human rights
● UN Human Rights Council reports directly to UNGA.
UN Security Council ● Has responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security.
(UNSC) ● Exercises power through legally binding resolutions.
● Can authorise peace-keeping, military action, or sanctions.
● 5 permanent members (P5) – France, USA, Russia, China,
UK
● Each country has “veto power”
● The UNSC has ten non-permanent members with a two-year
term.
● To many people, veto power is seen as being ineffective in
dealing with international issues, including human rights
abuses.
AGAINST:
Veto power prevents the UNSC from acting on the will of the
majority. The UNSC has been successful in resolutions (East Timor
1626) The Veto power can be hijacked by petty national interests
rather than enabling resolutions to be passed on merit. The P5 is the
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only country to have nuclear arsenals. Veto power gives these states
the power to express their disagreement with an international issue
within the system, rather than through nuclear force. The P5 does not
reflect the geopolitical reality of today. There is no requirement in the
UN Charter for the P5 to be geopolitical realities.
➔ Intergovernmental Organisations:
● These are created by agreements between states.
● The United Nations is an IGO, established by the UN Charter in 1945.
● INTERPOL and the World Trade Organisation are also IGO’s
● The Commonwealth of Nations is an IGO compromised of 54 members including
Australia.
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➔ Non-Governmental Organizations:
● These are organisations independent of the government.
● Examples of NGOs include The Red Cross, Amnesty International, and Human
Rights Watch.
● NGOs play a role in informing the global community of human rights violations and
progress.
● NGOs research, document and investigate human rights cases.
● NGOs are effective because they are independent of governments and political bias.
● They work to inform the general public of what governments may not want them to
know.
➔ The Media:
● The media often work closely with NGOs.
● They can have a significant influence on the general public.
● However, this is only in countries with freedom of the press.
● Restriction of internet access/television means that the media is not as effective in some
countries.
● The rights and responsibilities of the media and individuals are included in Article 19 of
the UDHR.
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In Australia:
The incorporation of human rights into domestic law
● HR within Australia:
○ Common Law
○ Statute Law
○ Constitutional Law
○ Codified & incorporated from ratified intl law
● Division of Powers:
● Division of powers – the doctrine whereby there are 3 government levels and some
jurisdictions are exclusive, specific, concurrent & residual
● This supports HR as it ensures:
○ no one level of govt. has all the power
○ helps reduce the chance of corruption & tyranny
○ ensures that a many people’s voices are being heard
○ Ensures resource efficiency – more ppl helping make laws
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● Adani downsizes the project from $16.5 billion 60-million-tonnes a year mine to a
10-to-15 million tonnes a year mine costing about $2 billion
● federal government re-approves mine subject to "36 of the strictest conditions in
Australian history“
● A compromise was reached where Adani was asked to improve their enviro mgmt. plan
● Debate between federal and state government as they each had different priorities
(economic/financial vs environmental)
● QLD approved the mine
● Then Aust govt took the case to Federal court but lost
● Separation of Powers:
● separation of powers – the doctrine whereby there are 3 principle bodies in the legal
system – legislative, executive & judiciary
● This supports HR as it ensures:
○ no one body has all the power
○ helps reduce the chance of corruption & abuse of power
○ Ensures resource efficiency – more ppl helping handle different aspects of the law
➔ Statute Law:
● Statute Law - Legislation developed by Federal or State government
● Privacy Act 1988 - protect the personal information they hold from misuse, interference
loss
○ unauthorised access
○ modification or disclosure
● Freedom of Information Act 1982 - right of access to government documents
○ Ministers
○ most agencies
● Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)
● Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW)
● Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
● Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth)
● Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) • Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)
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○ Presumption of innocence
○ Right against self-incrimination
○ Right from freedom to be randomly searched
● habeus corpus - Right to appear before court or judge to determine whether there is
lawful authority to detain the person if a writ was written.
○ procedural fairness
○ Right to fair hearing
○ Right to be free from bias
○ To be supported by evidence & to be able to look at the evidence
● Right to a fair trial - Stems from procedural fairness
● Issues with Common Law:
○ Can be overridden by statute law e.g. Anti-Terrorism Laws (breached many HR
– presumption of innocence, indefinite detention, etc.) → Dr Haneef story
○ Must be a relevant case for it to be created
○ Must be relevant to the case it is being applied to
● Legislative
● Any legislation that upholds HR developed by parliament falls under this category - e.g.
Discrimination Act, Gender Discrimination Act, Age Discrimination Act, Disability
Discrimination Act, etc
● Executive
● Any police scenarios whereby the police are helping uphold HR in some capacity
● A situation that doesn’t really promote HR is the police powers under the Anti-Terrorism
Laws we have at present
● Executive powers of PM and Premiers during Covid times to make executive decisions
and laws quickly to help protect citizens.
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even if they are born in other part of the world like these 2 were and therefore cannot be
deported. The case involved two Aboriginal men facing deportation due to their criminal
convictions - establishing precedent and protecting from arbitrary deportation.
➔ Tribunals:
● The Fair Work Commission our workplace relations tribunal - they are responsible for:
○ resolving employment-related disputes
○ setting minimum wages and conditions
○ ensuring compliance with workplace laws
○ protecting human rights in the workplace by addressing issues of discrimination,
harassment, and unfair treatment, ensuring that employees' rights are upheld.
● Administrative Appeals Tribunal is an independent tribunal that reviews decisions
made by Australian government departments and agencies. individuals can ask the AAT
to review of decisions that may impact their rights and entitlements. It has jurisdiction
over a wide range of matters, including:
○ Migration
○ social security
○ veterans' affairs
○ administrative law
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➔ The Media
● UN accuses Australia of systematically violating torture convention - The Guardian
High community support – 87.4% of submissions to the Without the Charter of Rights, Australia is not notoriously
National Human Rights Consultation breaching human rights
Centralising the sources of human rights (rather than Australia could face challenges similar to the U.S.
the Constitution, common law, statute law and the High regarding their gun laws, as changing something like the Bill
Court of Australia) of Rights is no easy task.
Improves Australia’s international standing concerning There is an economic cost surrounding the creation of the
human rights Charter
Bringing Australia in line with other similar democracies Unnecessarily legalised human rights
such as Canada, New Zealand, America & England
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