9th International Conference on Human Rights Education will start on Monday, 26 November 2018.

Draft program is available from the conference website.

There will be over 70 presenters including: Prof. Peter Shergold AC, Chancellor, Western Sydney University; Dr Mmantsetsa Marope, Director, UNESCO International Bureau of Education, Geneva, Switzerland; Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education Laureate (1998) and former Judge of the High Court of Australia; Hon. Dr Xanana Gusmão, the First President of Timor Leste; Ms. Cynthia Veliko, the High Commissioner’s Regional Representative for South-East Asia and Chief, Bangkok Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, President, Australian Human Rights Commission; Ms Barbara Weber, Global Director, Human Rights Education, Amnesty International and many others.

Join WSU at the Australia’s largest celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Already over 300 participants have registered their attendance.

The conference is accredited as eligible training for legal and teacher professions.

See you in November.

Yeshe Choesang, Volunteering Managing- Editor of Tibet Post International, Sydney, has sent me these two articles about the current situation in Tibet.

Recommended reading.

Tibet Post International – article 1

Tibet Post International- article 2

According to article written by Zia Ahmad published in Australasian Muslim newspaper Times on 12 October 2018 Chinese government has legalised the internment of up to a million Uyghur Muslims in the province of Xinjiang by revising a law on Tuesday 9 October to “carry out anti-extremist ideological education and psychological and behavioural correction to promote thought transformation.”

The updated law, Article 133 now acknowledges the existence of mass detentions in re-education camps in Xinjiang, where former detainees accuse the Chinese government of suppressing the practice of Islam and stamping out Uyghur language and culture.

Under the new rules, all officials and police in the region must make a declaration that they are “loyal Communist Party members” and “don’t have any religious belief.” Their only faith can be “Marxism and Leninism,” and they must agree to “fight against ‘pan-halalisation’ thoroughly.”

My best congratulations go to Dr Denis Mukwege and to Nadia Murad on being awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, it is hard to imagine two more worthy winners. This is richly deserved recognition of these two extraordinarily and effective campaigners against the sexual violence, and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Nadia Murad gave voice to unspeakable abuse in Iraq when the violent extremists of Daesh brutally targeted the Yazidi people, especially women and girls. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime since 2016, she has pursued support for victims of human trafficking and sexual slavery and justice for perpetrators. Her powerful advocacy has touched people across the world and helped to establish a vitally important United Nations investigation of the harrowing crimes that she and so many others endured.

Dr Denis Mukwege has been a fearless champion for the rights of women caught up in armed conflict who have suffered rape, exploitation and other horrific abuses. Despite regular threats to his life, he made the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a haven from mistreatment. Dr Mukwege has been a strong voice calling the world’s attention to the shocking crimes committed against women in wartime.

Today the Nobel Committee recognized the efforts of Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege as vital tools for peace. By honouring you as human rights, this prize also recognizes countless victims around the world who have too often been stigmatized, hidden and forgotten. Thank you for everything you have done. We need more people to stand up the way you have stood up for the rights of women and against violence.