I had a pleasure to address the Year 10 in Al Amanah College in Liverpool (see: http://www.alamanah.nsw.edu.au/ ) about human rights in Australia, and in particular about refugee issues, immigration detention and children’s rights.

The students have shown a great interest in human rights issues and a lively discussion followed. At the conclusion students were awarded, on behalf of the Australian Council for Human Rights Education, the Citizen for Humanity Certificate.

I look forward to visit the Al Amanah College again.

Yesterday I have attended the second meeting of The Australian Multicultural Council.  I chair the Council, which is an advisory body to Government on multicultural policy and programmes.

Multicultural policy: The Council discussed and consolidated their advice to Government on strategic policy issues relating to social harmony and community cohesion, in particular the need to continue to emphasise the positive social and economic outcomes arising from a multicultural Australia.

The Council discussed the Multicultural Access and Equity Policy: Respecting diversity. Improving responsiveness (2013) and noted the Council’s new oversight for this policy.

Interfaith: Professor Emeritus Gary Bouma AM led a discussion on the religious diversity of Australia’s population, noting that religious diversity has increased since the 1980s both between and within religious groups, and in the proportion who report having no religion.  Professor Bouma concluded that increased religious diversity makes interfaith dialogue harder but more important.  The Council considered their role of strengthening interfaith dialogue and opportunities to do so in contemporary Australia.

Productive Diversity: The Council noted that productive diversity recognises the importance of working together with Australia’s diverse communities in developing international business relationships.  The Council discussed barriers to employment participation as an important factor in enhancing productive diversity. The Council also noted that qualification deficits (including English proficiency), skills recognition, local knowledge and social factors were important in reducing employment barriers.

It was a pleasure to address the Australia Press Council (APC) media conference on  multiculturalism in the Australian media. This important event was organised jointly by Professor David Weisbrot, Chair, APC and by the leaders of Chinese community. Other speakers included The Hon. Helen Sham-Ho and Dr Geoffrey Lee Member for Parramatta and Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs. The function was held at the Marigold Restaurant, in Chinatown.

For more information see the online report in Chinese language from Sing Tao newspaper: ?http://admin.wechat.com/s?biz=MzA3NDM1MDIwMw==&mid=209677490&idx=5&sn=158bb5abd348dca0f2c14a68a21a7d81&scene=5#rd

and from Sydney Today newspaper

http://www.sydneytoday.com/content/746144?mobile=true

President of Australian Council for Human Rights Education: You Will Win

On 15-17 July I convened ‘The Advancing Community Cohesion – Towards a National Compact Conference’ (ACCC) at University of Western Sydney (UWS) Parramatta Campus.

For the ACCC program see: Conference booklet

ACCC was a resounding success.   The Governor General opened the Conference on 15 July.  The following two days of the conference comprised of 19 sessions with 79 speakers, including Prof.  Peter Shergold AC, Chancellor of UWS, Senator The Hon. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services, The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, Retired Justice of the High Court of Australia, H.E. Dr Hassan El-Laithy, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tim Wilson, Human Rights Commissioner,  numerous  senior government officials,  scholars from throughout Australia and community representatives, including those from FECCA and Muslim groups.  Indeed, the 350 ACCC participants included all key actors who are at the forefront of community cohesion advancement in the country.

There was an impressive array of media mentions, including ABC TV and current affairs, SKY News, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Some of the highlights are listed below.

• Front page SMH and Age- you can read the story online (PDFs of the print edition in media report)
• ABC PM, Thursday and Friday
• SBS TV
• Radio National interview with Dr Sev Ozdowski
• Rolling television coverage on APAC, SKY News’ live current affairs station
• Social media discussions included retweets of conference content by Tim Wilson and Michael   Ebeid

See photos from conference here

 

After the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Santiago de Chile withdrew as the host of 6th International Human Rights Education Conference (IHREC) in December 2015 I wrote to the international human rights education network to seek a new host. I received a number of proposals including from Burma, Canada, Gambia, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Uganda, UK and others, but the most viable proposal was received from the University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University in Middelburg, Netherlands in cooperation with the Human Rights Education Associates (HREA).

Today I am pleased to announce that the 6th International Human Rights Education Conference will be held at the University College Roosevelt (Utrecht University) in Middelburg, the Netherlands, from 16- 18 December 2015.  Professor Barbara Oomen is the Conference Convenor, together with Frank Elbers of HREA. A Conference Call will be circulated shortly. Prof. Oomen can be contacted at:  B.Oomen@ucr.nl ; and Frank Elbers at: frank.elbers@hrea.org

The University of Western Sydney, HREA and the Australian Council for Human Rights Education agreed to partner with University College Roosevelt in support of the 6th IHREC.  The conference website and a call for papers will be developed shortly and circulated to the human rights education community.

I am also pleased to announce that the 7th International Human Rights Education Conference in 2016 will be hosted by the Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law (Centro de Derechos Humanos, Facultad de Derecho) at the University of Chile. Dr Claudia Cárdenas, Director of the Human Rights Centre will be the convenor of the 2016 conference.

Finally, Equitas has agreed to host the 8th International Human Rights Education Conference in 2017 in Montreal, Canada, possibly in partnership with one of four Montreal Universities to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Equitas is a Montreal-based NGO set up in 1967 with a mission to promote human rights education in Canada and around the world.  Equitas programs in Canada for children and youth reach approximately 100,000 young people/year.  Globally, Equitas has been running annual International Human Rights Training Program since 1980 and has been delivering programs to reinforce the HRE capacity of civil society and government organizations in Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East since the mid- Nineties.  Equitas is recognized by many as a leader in the field when it comes to human rights education methodologies and evaluation. See  www.equitas.org  for more details.

For more information about Equitas please contact Ian Hamilton, Directeur Général / Executive Director Equitas – Centre international d’éducation aux droits humains / International Centre for Human Rights Education or visit:  www.equitas.org

See conference’ s Web site at  http://www.ihrec2015.org/

It was a pleasure to present this submission on behalf of the Australian Multicultural Council in response to the Productivity Commission’s invitation to submit responses to their Inquiry on Migrant Intake into Australia.

The Council strongly supports the continuation of the Government’s current managed migration programme which not only maintains Australia’s economic prosperity, but also supports our social cohesion.

For full submission please see:  http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/migrant-intake/submissions

I was deeply sorry to learn of the death of Joan Kirner, a friend and former premier of Victoria. Joan was a wonderful, imaginative and inspirational women, strategic in her approach and committed to social justice. I also loved her humour and ability to work hard.

I had the pleasure of working closely with her on the Centenary of Federation Advisory Committee back in 1993-94 and to accompany her on consultations from Hobart to Broome; in fact we produced a great report that resulted in creation of Melbourne Federation Square, train line from Alice Springs to Darwin and many other projects.  Enclosed are few photographs of the Committee and its Secretariat under the leadership of Gavin Fry, its Secretary.

After our work was completed Joan invited me to her home in Williamstown to meet her husband Ron and we continued to stay in touch.  Last time she e-mailed me few weeks ago to congratulate on my appointment to the Australian Multicultural Council and to say that I was “one of my favourite public servants”.

She and her spirit of generosity will be sorely missed.  Vale Joan Kirner!