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

The launch of Patryk Pleskot’s book ‘Polska-Australia-“Solidarnosc”.Biografia mowiona Seweryna Ozdowskiego’, was organized by Marek and Dana Weiss, publishers of Express Wieczorny, Australia’s Polish newspaper. It was hosted by  the Hon. Robert Borsak MLC and held in the Parliament House in Sydney. A number of other Members of Parliament, including Mr Robert Brown, MLC and Mr Geoff Lee MP were also in attendance.

The evening was also addressed by HE Regina Jurkowska, Consul General of the Republic of Poland and attended by members of Sev’s family wife Hanna, children Agatha and Alexander and Witold Chylewski Snr and Ela Chylewska as well as many of his  friends including: Mr Eugeniusz Bajkowski, Journalist, Mr Marek Burda, President, Australian Institute of Polish Affairs (NSW Branch), Prof. Martin Krygier, Ms Isabel Lukas, 1st Ethnic Reporter for SMH and her sister Krystyna Zdrojkowska, Ms Marianna Lacek, Head, Polish Education Committee and her husband Bronek, Mr Jurek Maciejak, Ms Anna Sadurska, Head, Polish Program, SBS Radio Mr Pawel Otrebski and his wife Grazyna and others.

A copy of The Hon. Robert Borsak’s address is available below.

The Hon Robert Borsak’s speech

Few photos from the launch are provided below by courtesy of Express Wieczorny.

My best congratulations to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi who have jointly won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their struggle against the oppression of children and their right to education.
The 2014 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights advocate, is well deserved, totally non-
controversial and represents a huge boost to the cause of children’s rights around the world.

It is also hoped that the 2014 Price will contribute to the bettering of relationships between India and Pakistan.

Let’s celebrate together the winners of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and the rights of children world’s wide.

Yesterday Parliament’s Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry announced new rules to separate people with facial coverings from other members of the public by forcing them to watch parliament from behind glass. Thus, Muslim women who wear the burqa into Federal Parliament will be banned from watching proceedings from regular public galleries and will be forced to sit in glass enclosures instead. This ruling is part of extra security measures introduced on advice of security officials’ advice.

This appears to be a form of segregation, or even apartheid, based on religious or cultural belief. Many would claim that this edict is an assault on religious freedom. In my view, it certainly offends freedom of expression. There are also the practical implications of this edict. Just imagine a spouse of a Saudi Kingdom official wearing a burqa while visiting Parliament; or simply consider our Santa Claus with a false beard covering his face. Should we also exclude them? Or think about traditional Catholic nuns wearing the chador style uniforms.

Many of us feel challenged by women wearing burkas. It challenges our attitudes about living in a secular society and about the emancipation of women. But it is certainly not a security issue at parliament house. In fact there are in existence many much better ways for protecting security at parliament – including identity checks or body scans at the entrance gates.

Historically speaking the use of state power had never worked when used to change religious or cultural believes. Remember the outcomes of fight by the Roman or more recently the Soviet empires against Christians! Let’s try to be a bit more of tolerant towards those of us who are different. Let’s us replace exclusion with education. This will keep the dialog open. Security measures are most welcomed to target effectively the real treats posed by Islamic fanatics; they however should not be used to contain enjoyment of freedoms of cultural and religious expression in Australia.

John Zubrzycki has published an interesting article entitled

21 September marks the International Day of Peace or “Peace Day.” It was officially declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001 even though it had been celebrated since 1982. The theme of this year’s International Day of Peace is the “Right of People to Peace”.

What is peace?

Peace can mean many things to different people. In terms of global peace, it can be referred to as a non-violent way of life across the earth. It is an ideal for a world without war where respect, justice and goodwill will prevail amongst the nations of the world. In terms of family life, it can be referred to as family living together calmly where conflict is resolved through open communication and respect for each other’s views.

The main objective of Peace Day is to provide an opportunity for individuals and organisations to promote peace across the world. Already thousands of individuals and corporations have committed themselves to promote the ideal of peace at different levels. In Australia, for example, Think Peace Net is committed to the promotion of peace through the education of young children in primary schools and young adults in high schools. A link to their website can be found below.

Whatever your ideal of peace is, UWS encourages you to join the celebration. Take some time to yourself to reflect upon the contribution you can make to achieve a peaceful world.

Resources:

http://www.thinkpeace.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace

http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/

It was a pleasure to celebrate with Cameron Murphy AM his investiture to Member of Order of Australia in the General Division “for significant service to the community through a range of human rights and civil liberties organisations.” 

Cameron’s contribution to protection of civil liberties and human rights in Australia is legendary and I am glad that it was acknowledged. My best congratulations, well done Cameron!

Below are photos from the Investiture ceremony show Cameron with Sir Nichols Shehadie,  his partner Agatha and brother Blake.

I was delighted to host as guest speaker at the UWS Open Forum the Hon Michael Kirby, AC CMG, Retired Justice of the High Court and Human Rights Champion who spoke to an audience of some 200 people.In his speech Mr Kirby  discussed the recent report produced the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea. This UN Report is unprecedented. It documents the “gravity, scale and nature” of crimes against humanity committed in North Korea and reveals “a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.” After reporting to the UN Security Council and travelling around the world to speak on this report, Mr Kirby will spoke  tho UWS audience about the impact of the report and responses to the report from the international community.

A biography of the speaker and more information on the Open Fora series is available at http://www.uws.edu.au/open_for a

I am pleased to let you know that the international conferences on Human Rights Education (IHRE) I initiated in 2010 in Sydney continue to advance human rights culture world-wide. The next IHRE conference will be held at the American University, in Washington DC USA on 4-6 December 2014 and is entitled: The 5th International Human Rights Education Conference: ‘Advancing UNiversal Human Rights Culture‘.(opens in new window)

The conference will then return to Australia either in 2015 or 2016.

The conference title is broad and applying to as many people (not only lawyers) working in HRE as possible, with some focus on UN (keeping UN in capitals as a part of universal is not a mistake). Please save the date in your calendars – I hope that at least some of you would be able to attend.

Professor Claudio Grossman, Raymond Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law, Dean, American University Washington College of Law and Chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) will serve as the Conference Convenor.  An invitation to submit a paper proposal is attached here: 2014-07-01 Dean’s Invitation for papers ltr

The conference website is under construction by the conference management team under the leadership of Ms Jennifer Dabson, Director, Office of Special Events and Continuing Legal Education, American University Washington College of Law. We hope that the formal call for papers will be issued in early June.

See you at the Conference.