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Opinion Piece About Multiculturalism

Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, President of the Australian Council for Human Rights Education, has been appointed Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council by the Australian Government.  The announcement was recently made by the Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, andParliamentary Secretary, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

The Council’s role is to advise the Government on multicultural affairs.

Minister Andrews said the Government’s support for the Council confirmed its commitment to a multicultural Australia and to building a stronger Australian community. “The Council will advise the Government on ways to sustain and support socially cohesive communities, to ensure all Australians have the opportunity to participate, engage and contribute to Australian life,” said Minister Andrews.For Minister Andrews media release about the appointment see the attachment.

Professor Barney Glover, UWS Vice-Chancellor of the university where Dr Ozdowski works, congratulated Sev on behalf of the University community. “This is a very fitting appointment given Dr Ozdowski’s long and distinguished career in multicultural affairs in Australia, and his significant international reputation in human rights education,” said Professor Glover.

Dr Ozdowski congratulated the five members who were also appointed to the Council, and says he looks forward to working with them on multicultural issues. “It will be a great pleasure to advise the Australian government on how to strengthen and implement Australia’s multicultural policies and programs to serve us all well.  Celebrating diversity and the ‘fair go’ is what modern Australia is about. Our multicultural success makes Australia the envy of the world,” says Dr Ozdowski.

Media Release by The Hon Kevin Andrews Minister

I am pleased to report that the 5^th International Human Rights Education Conference (IHREC) held at the American University, in Washington DC, USA on 4-6 December 2014 has just finished. The conference was convened by Professor Claudio Grossman, Dean, American University Washington College of Law and Chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and endorsed by the Australian government – see the message from the Prime Minister.

The theme of the 5^th IHREC is ‘Advancing UNiversal Human Rights Culture’ – see: http://www.wcl.american.edu/events/ichredu/. The conference was a great success – it attracted 278 registrations and over 100 speakers form some 40 countries and advanced HRE world-wide.

For conference program the attachment.

As a background, I have initiated this series of human rights education conferences in 2010. The first conference was organised jointly by the Australian Council of Human Rights Education (http://humanrightseducationaustralia.com/about.php) jointly with the University of Western Sydney.  For information about the 2010 inaugural conference “Educating for Human Rights, Peace and Intercultural Dialogue” that was held in Sydney see: http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/708792/HREC_2010_Report_Web_Version.pdf

At the moment I am concluding negotiations with a possible host of the 6^th IHRE Conference. I hope that it will be held in Santiago, Chile in November 2015. After the conference would have been to all the continents with the human rights education message, it would be time to return it to Sydney in 2016.

Message from Tony Abbott PM

FINAL PROGRAM OF 5th IHRE CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON DC – 4-6 DECEMBER 2014