It is 60 years today since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
And while the principles contained in the declaration are certainly noble, it seems sadly, after 60 years, many of these principles are yet to become reality.
The Federal Government has announced a consultation on a possible bill of rights for Australia, to be headed by Father Frank Brennan, who The Australian newspaper describes as a human rights skeptic.
We spoke to Phoebe Knowles, Campaign Coordinator for the Australian Human Rights Group, a coalition of over 60 organisations who would like to see better protection of human rights in this country.
She told us about what form the consultation will take, how people can make submissions and what a bill of rights would mean for Australia. A popular argument is that a bill of rights would prevent policies such as mandatory detention from coming into existence, so we asked Phoebe if this could even be applied to such idiocies as the mandatory internet filter. She thinks a constitutional protection of the right to free speech, association and expression could preempt the existence of the filter (as an example).
My two cents: seeing as 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights hasn't exactly changed a whole lot, maybe an Australian bill of rights – as much as the UDHR itself – could do with a revision. A lot has changed in the last 60 years, and while the concept of universal human rights should be strived for, perhaps the way we frame the concept needs to be redefined a little, or a lot.
Ahem. Glad I got that off my chest.
Check out the Australian Human Rights Group and the government consultation sites for more information.
Dave was in again with an report on the activities of the 'clean coal' lobby, which are ramping up in anticipation of the government's announcement of its emissions reduction targets next week.
The greenwash is going into overdrive as the dinosaurs refuse to die.
Climate Change minister Penny Wong is currently in Poznan, Poland for a United Nations Climate Change summit and the elephant in the room is Australia’s expected emissions cuts.Senator Wong is remaining tight-lipped about Australia’s target, but it is anticipated that the Government will announce a figure of 5-15% on Monday.
That’s a 5-15% cut on 2000 levels by 2020.
Like many other environmental groups, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition says this isn’t enough. We spoke to Jess Willis from the AYCC to discuss their ‘Your targets = our future’ campaign.
Music
Door Peep – Burning Spear
Alternative Energy – Combat Wombat
Time to Evolve – Bill Hicks
Paranoid Android – Easy Dub All Stars
Revolution Get Down – The Bellrays
A Public Dis-service Announcement from Shell/... And we thought Nation States Were a Bad Idea – Propagandhi
Eureka – Unkle Ho
Nights in Venice – The Saints
No comments:
Post a Comment