The 8th International Conference on Human Rights Education, Bridging our Diversities, was held in Montreal, Canada, from November 30th to December 3rd, 2017. Concordia University provided the venue and graciously hosted the event. The 2017 Conference was co-organized by Dr Sev Ozdowski of Western Sydney University and Australian Council for Human Rights Education. This year’s Conference was the 8th in a series of annual conferences previously held in Australia, South Africa, Poland, Taiwan, USA, Netherlands and Chile.

More than 310 registered participants coming from over 50 countries in all regions of the world took part in this event. The main objective of the Conference was to work together to develop a dynamic articulation of the value of human rights education as well as to document a collection of innovative and effective strategies and practices to respond to current global challenges.

The conference spread over the 3.5 days and consisted of three major themes:
. Human rights education as a fundamental response to global challenges, for reconciliation with
indigenous peoples and in achieving gender equality
. HRE good practices for building equitable and inclusive communities
. HRE tools and tactics to ensure impact

All workshops and panel presentations followed a participatory approach which involved active engagement of participants.

More information and a full list of all plenary, workshop and panel sessions, including main speakers and organizations responsible for organizing workshops and panels, is provided in the attached Narrative Report, Conference Program, and Conference Declaration and Closing Remarks.

ICHRE 2017 Narrative Report   IHREC 2017 Declaration     IHREC 2017 Full Program

IHREC 2017 Closing Remarks (by Sev)

Please see the enclosed article suggesting what could be done to improve Australia’s Human Rights protection system.
See: http://theconversation.com/ten-things-australia- can-do- to-b…

I certainly would support the idea that we need to legislate for an Australian Bill of Rights along the lines proposed by Fr Frank Brennan after his extensive consultations across Australia on the issue.

See also:

Video: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Human Rights Day 2017 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. You. Me. Everyone. In our daily lives, our schools and work, in our political and community life, all of us can uphold that fundamental truth and build a better global community for us all.”

And:
OHCHR Website for Human Rights Day

Happy Human Rights Day – Stand Up for Human Rights

Weren’t able to attend this year’s DCA and NAB Annual Diversity Debate?  Or just want to revisit some  of the poignant messages and humorous discussion over whether a focus on identity helps or hinders diversity and inclusion in the workplace?

DCA and NAB Annual Diversity Debate 2017

A full video recording of the evening of 24 October and a transcript of the event are now available for DCA members to download. Non-members can also watch the highlights video.

https://www.dca.org.au/event/59

Here is the link to the SBS interview I did about the Advancing Community Cohesion Conference:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/audiotrack/conference-examines-barriers-social-cohesion-australia

This morning I was a guest on Wendy Harmer’s ABC Radio Sydney’s morning show to talk about the next week’s 2nd Advancing Community Cohesion Conference hosted by the Western Sydney University on 20 – 22 November 2017. Wendy’s show has an audience of over 300,000,  so hopefully it will translate to additional conference registrations.

We discussed:  How do we unify Australia?  For the interview see: http://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/mornings/mornings/9136454

I am proud to invite you to a national forum to explore Australian answers to global and local challenges to community cohesion.

In July 2015, Western Sydney University hosted the 1st National Advancing Community Cohesion Conference – Towards a National
Compact. An indication of its success was the request from many of the 250 or so attendees for a follow up conference.

Inspired by the encouragement, and committed to inclusive, thriving communities, Western Sydney University is proud to announce the 2nd National Advancing Community Cohesion
Conference – Today’s Challenges and Solutions. The event will be held from 20 to 22 November 2017 at our Parramatta South Campus.

The Conference program is available here.

On Tuesday 24 October 2017 I participated as a speaker at the Annual Diversity Debate hosted by the Diversity Council Australia (DCA) and moderated by Tony Jones, one of ABC’s most respected
journalists at Dolton House Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont.

This year the question was asked: Does a focus on identity help or hinder diversity and inclusion in the workplace? I was on the negative team together with Prof Peter van Onslen, notable political commentator and political journalist for the Australian and Sky News and with Ms Libby Lyons, head of Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

DCA is the independent, not-for- profit workplace diversity advisor to business in Australia. They provide high level advice and strategy to over 400 member organisations across the private and public sectors.As the debate is DCA’s major fundraising event of the year I am pleased to report that the event was NCA best yet, with a record crowd of 462 guests enjoying the thought provoking conversation as well as great food and wine, all in a fabulous setting.

The discussion shed valuable light on the positives and negatives of a focus on identity and provides employers with food for thought when it comes to their own Diversity and Inclusion programs.
Event partner Bloomberg have shared with us the exciting news that #DCAdebate ranked as the top trending topic on social media in Australia as of 7:30pm on 24 October and remained in #2 rank thereafter until 11:30pm, which was just an incredible outcome.

You can view photographs of the event on our DCA Debate photo album on Facebook and you can read our eNews – feel free to share both. A highlights video of the Debate will be uploaded to the DCA website in the next week or so, and media coverage of the event and other DCA activities can be found in the News section of our website.

I have attended the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) 2017 National Biennial Conference that was held in Darwin on the 8-10 October 2017 at the Darwin Convention and delivered a paper titled: Importance of Heritage Languages to Australia’s Social and Economic Future.

The paper could be accessed here  2017-10-20 HERITAGE LANGUAGES – speech for FECCA

Australia expects to be elected uncontested to the powerful United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday in New York . Australia was competing for one of two ‘Western Europe and others’ group seats against Spain and France, but France’s withdrawal made Australia’s elevation almost certain.
Election is not a formality: a majority of votes cast is needed for election, and a country could be denied a spot if half of the member countries voting refuse to cast a vote for it. However, elections to the 47-member council will be almost entirely uncompetitive, except for seats among Asia-Pacific states, where six states are competing for four seats.
Australia has campaigned globally for its position on the Human Rights Council, arguing it will promote gender equality; good governance; freedom of expression; indigenous rights; and strong national human rights institutions. It has also said it will advocate for the global abolition of the death penalty. “Australia will bring a principled and pragmatic approach to our term on the Human Rights Council,” foreign minister Julie Bishop said, launching Australia’s bid.

Daniel Webb

My best congratulations go to Daniel Webb,  Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, for winning the inaugural Global Pluralism Award for his refugee rights work. It was awarded by the Canadian-based Global Centre for Pluralism. The citation reads:

“By protecting asylum seekers from horrendous detention and changing the public conversation about refugees from deterrence to opportunity, Daniel Webb is paving a way for other global leaders,” – Canada’s former Prime Minister and Chair of the Jury the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark.

This award is worthy recognition of Daniel’s work, the gravity of the cruelty he and his team are working to support clients facing deportation to offshore detention. He has travelled to Manus three times and works closely with the men detained there to amplify their voices. He has run High Court challenges against the secretive detention of people on the high seas and led our work on the #LetThemStay campaign, which prevented the deportation of more than 267 men, women and children to offshore processing centres.

You can read more about the Global Pluralism Award here.