{"title":"The promise of linguistic equity for migrants in Australian courtrooms: a cross-disciplinary perspective","authors":"Ran Yi","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2232171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2232171","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In human rights studies, much has been written and studied about civil, economic, political and social rights. Little has been explored about the linguistic human rights of migrants and minorities in justice-critical settings. Situated at the nexus of migration, human rights and sociolinguistic studies, this short essay walks through the current perspectives of linguistic equity for migrants and minorities in Australian interpreter-mediated courtroom encounters. The essay leaves the readers with three reflections: (1) clarifications on the use of nuanced terms such as linguistic equality and linguistic equity, (2) updated knowledge of the difficulties in achieving accuracy for migrants and minorities in court interpreting and (3) refreshed understanding of role-related practical challenges in the professional life of interpreters in court and beyond.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"174 - 180"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46706299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Women as outsiders of the law: A review of How many more women? Exposing how the law silences women","authors":"Ramona Vijeyarasa","doi":"10.1080/1323238x.2023.2187921","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238x.2023.2187921","url":null,"abstract":"Atkins, Hoggett, Thornton, Morgan, Graycar, Smart, Bartlett and Charlesworth, among many others, were and continue to be pioneers of their times. They offered a robust critique, in English-language scholarship, of domestic and international law’s failure to find a place for women, but also the tendency for law and legal systems to marginalise, exclude and discount women’s experiences. Decades have passed since some of this early scholarship, but the repetition of Audre Lorde’s caution that, ‘[T]he master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,’ at countless gatherings of feminist socio-legal scholars today, is an unnecessary reminder that women remain ‘sister outsiders’, the title of the 1984 book compiling Lorde’s essays and speeches. Perhaps more importantly, Lorde was on the cutting-edge of raising our consciousness about the compounded experiences of discrimination women face, within and beyond the law, based on their multiple identities. Today a plethora of researchers—and I count myself in that circle—continue to take up the baton to demonstrate that sadly little has changed when it comes to the institution of the law. Contributing to and amplifying this agenda, in How many more women? international lawyers Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida seek to depict law’s failure to listen to and to believe the stories of women victims of gender-based violence (GBV). In the words of scholar of gender, peace and security, Jacqui True, GBV ‘is one of the key struggles and","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"187 - 191"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44923594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A vulnerability approach to irregular migration and modern slavery in Australia","authors":"Jamal Barnes, M. Naser, J. Aston","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2229619","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2229619","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT It is widely recognised that migrants and irregular migrants are at risk of modern slavery and slavery-like practices worldwide. As migrants and irregular migrants make their way across state borders, or reach their destination countries, they have been victim to practices such as forced labour, exploitation, wage theft, torture and inhuman treatment and sexual servitude, among other practices. Australia is no exception, with just under 300 cases of modern slavery reported to the Australian Federal Police between 2021 and 2022. Although Australia has acted to stop slavery and slavery-like practices, it has focused on a law enforcement response, ignoring the role that laws and policies play in contributing to modern slavery in Australia. This article adopts a vulnerability approach to modern slavery, examining how legal, policy, institutional and structural factors within Australia contribute to exacerbating the vulnerability of migrants and irregular migrants to modern slavery and slavery-like practices. Utilising a vulnerability framework not only moves beyond the law enforcement approaches taken by the Australian government, but sheds important light on the need for policy, legal and institutional reform to effectively combat modern slavery in Australia and ensure there is redress and justice for its victims.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"121 - 140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43007467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Protection from forced eviction: what rights do social housing tenants have under human rights charters?","authors":"Bill Swannie","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2226948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2226948","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines the rights of social housing tenants under Australian human rights charters. Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) have charters which include the right to home and which place obligations on public authorities. However, only in the ACT are these duties enforceable in eviction proceedings. In Victoria and Queensland, social housing tenants must commence separate judicial review proceedings to raise human rights arguments. This article outlines the scope and importance of the right to home in international law, and it uses this framework to provide suggestions on how the right to home could be made accessible and effective for social housing tenants.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"23 - 43"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47340109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human rights in eastern civilisations: some reflections of a former UN Special Rapporteur","authors":"S. Bhaumik","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2167463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2167463","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"181 - 182"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49014690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenging the boundaries of accountability: strategic litigation and jurisdiction in European migration control policies","authors":"Finn Ireland","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2226275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2226275","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Current European border policies both evade accountability and perpetuate the violation of human rights by state actors abroad. The ongoing case of S.S. v Italy offers an opportunity to challenge these existing migratory frameworks and reassess conceptions of jurisdiction. The court's decision will be crucial in determining whether extraterritorial exercises of sovereign power can still fall within a nation's jurisdiction. This paper argues that adopting the Functional Jurisdiction Model, which emphasises factual and legal elements over location, would increase accountability for state actions abroad. Although this approach may remain susceptible to existing efforts by states to avoid judicial scrutiny, it is essential to address current gaps in accountability and uphold human rights principles. The influence of international human rights law in shaping national policy cannot be ignored, and implementing a new understanding of jurisdiction can better protect the rights of migrants and ensure that sovereign authorities are held responsible for extraterritorial human rights abuses.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"167 - 173"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43011567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The right to a healthy environment and social and economic rights—responding to climate change in Australia","authors":"Cristy Clark, B. Goldblatt","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2204419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2204419","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The United Nations General Assembly recently recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This new right offers to reorient human rights to better address the interdependent relationship of humans and the environment. At the same time, it provides a novel lens to ensure that laws related to the environment account for injustices confronting humans within it. In the context of climate change, and the complex inequalities that it generates, environmental and human rights laws are converging. Social and economic rights, while limited and underexplored in Australia, offer some possibilities, in concert with the right to a healthy environment, to tackle climate injustices. The article suggests that efforts to realise the right to a healthy environment, including via existing legislative articulations of social and economic rights, may provide both opportunities for direct impact through the courts and, more indirectly, support an ontological reframing of the law’s conception of the environment and our relationship with it.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"65 - 83"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45441474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anti-discrimination laws in Australia—are Muslim women protected?","authors":"Maria Bhatti, Maryam Hashimi, Sandra Noakes","doi":"10.1080/1323238x.2023.2200290","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238x.2023.2200290","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines whether Australian law, both at the federal and state level, adequately protects the rights of Muslim women who choose to wear religious garments, specifically in the employment context. It provides a comprehensive analysis of legal protections available for Muslim women by discussing Australia’s obligations under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Cultural and Political Rights, as well as Australia’s domestic legal landscape by examining the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth), the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and other laws in Australian states and territories which protect against religious discrimination. After reviewing existing laws, the article then turns to the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 as a case study to examine whether the rights of Muslim women who choose to wear religious garments are adequately protected in Australia or whether additional legislative protections are required.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"1 - 22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44386716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ending childhood obesity: a challenge at the crossroads of international, economic and human rights law","authors":"T. Gill","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2187922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2187922","url":null,"abstract":"discusses the interplay of law, politics, diplomacy, and human rights in terms of four pillars of his reform for human rights in Cambodia—judicial, electoral, parliamentary and land. The personal tone of the last chapter makes it a convincing read, promoting the need for a long-term view of human rights through institutional reforms. Where the book falters, and does so in an inimical fashion, is the brushing aside of systematic subjugation of Dalits through the caste system. The book acknowledges that Manusmriti, the scripture the author extensively cites, as the sourceof codificationof the rigid anddiscriminatory caste system, but repeatedly tries to assert the narrative that discriminationwas not the original purpose of the caste system. The book espouses the brahmanical worldview, wherein a false dichotomy is created between tolerant, pluralistic, inclusive, non-violent, and libertine nature of a society and the violent discrimination and oppression which the majority Dalit population face. Merely allowing people to exist, with economic, cultural, political, and social subjugation is neither tolerance, nor pluralism, nor non-violent, nor libertine. One would expect that a book exploring the interactions between human rights and Hinduism would analyse such inherent contradictions in the limelight of extensive literature on caste-based human rights violation, to the minimum from the Ambedkarite school of thought, but the book offers none. Overall, the book offers a perspective on the interaction of human rights, as we understand them today, with Hinduism and Buddhism, and contemporary human rights issues around China and Cambodia. The niche nature of the book might lead to it becoming a primer for western audiences aiming to critically analyse the intersection of human rights and eastern theology from a brahmanical lens. The rich and candid offering of Subedi’s thought processes during his tenure as a principled and brave UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur, as highlighted in the last chapter, is unparalleled and it is this section alone that stands highly recommended for historians, political scientists, social anthropologists, human rights academics, and activists focussing on Cambodia.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"182 - 187"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42685817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The functions of modern slavery law: exploring the diverse expectations of New Zealand actors","authors":"Selwyn Coles","doi":"10.1080/1323238X.2023.2232126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2232126","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Building off fresh empirical research, including 15 interviews, this paper explores the diverse hopes and expectations that local actors articulated for anticipated new modern slavery legislation in New Zealand. It particularly highlights the expectations of three groups—civil society, the business sector and Government—who comprise the key actors driving the modern slavery law discussions forward. What emerges is a complex picture of competing and even conflicting expectations; sometimes made explicit, other times operating beneath the surface. The empirical evidence on the various expectations is then categorised in terms of the rich literature on the functions of law. Five core functions of modern slavery law are identified: the direct, expressive, symbolic, geopolitical and commercial functions. The paper identifies several policy implications of these diverse expectations and concludes with a call for greater clarity over what the law intends to achieve and how effectiveness should be measured.","PeriodicalId":37430,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Human Rights","volume":"29 1","pages":"103 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47934033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}