On Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, released a report (below) that found Australia in violation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The report found multiple violations and identified the systematic nature resulting from government policy. Juan Mendez, is a survivor of […]
International human rights body tells @TonyAbbottMHR #IStandWithGillianTriggs. @Jansant reports
February 25, 2015
The International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) has written (full text below) to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR), expressing “grave concern” about recent Government attacks on the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Gillian Triggs (@GillianTriggs). The letter was carbon copied to the […]
Wilkie asks International Criminal Court to probe members of Cabinet over #Refugees: @Jansant reports
October 22, 2014
The independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie MP and human rights advocate and lawyer Greg Barns, have made a formal request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, asking for an investigation into members of the Abbott Government for crimes against humanity. The request claims members of the Australian Government have contravened article […]
Alleged abuse against #refugees outside ICC jurisdiction: @jansant reports
September 27, 2014
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has declined “further analysis” of evidence included in a submission authored by Tracie Aylmer, alleging atrocities against refugees committed by members of the Australian government. The ICC said in a letter (below) dated Thursday, September 18: “the allegations appear to fall outside the jurisdiction of the Court”. […]
Are Australians struggling with cognitive dissonance over #asylumseekers? ASRC’s @jj_juliajacob comments
July 10, 2014
Cognitive Dissonance is a phrase introduced by psychologist Festinger in the late 1950s to describe the mental conflict or psychological discomfort a person feels when their beliefs and assumptions are contradicted by new information. Human nature is such that when dealing with mental discomfort, it chooses to do one or more of the following 3 […]
Visiting concentration camps in Utopia: @burgewords interviews @GGeorgiadisRN on ‘that’ comment the DIBP didn’t like
April 24, 2014
The Australian twittersphere freaked out when refugee advocate @VanessaPowell25 was threatened with legal action by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) earlier this month. Unless she removed a post on her Facebook, which documented one moment at a protest outside the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney’s Western Suburbs, the DIBP would “consider […]
Rights and justice for #refugees are not commodities: @novidados reports
April 15, 2014
When they come for the innocent without crossing over your body, cursed be your religion and your life. Anon The quote above came to my attention as I followed the protests at Villawood Detention Centre on social media over the past few weeks. It seems apt to think about protest in these terms, as […]
The killing of fair play: @Jansant comments on what the ALP has lost
April 12, 2014
I used to be proud of being born and raised in Balmain, the spiritual home of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The area has produced and attracted some of the greatest names in Australian history, people of politics like Sir Henry Parkes, Tom Uren, Neville Wran and Herbert Vere ‘H.V.’ Evatt (aka Doc Evatt), […]
Silencing the bird: @burgewords timeline of Immigration Department tweet fallout
April 8, 2014
Thanks to No Fibs readers and citizen journalists monitoring the mainstream and social media for the past 48 hours, we’ve been able to put together the limited facts about the people behind the tweets sent to refugee supporter Vanessa Powell last Friday by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). Two of the most […]
You cannot burn a mummy blog: @burgewords comments
April 7, 2014
Over the weekend a ripple of panic went through the social media in Australia. I was alerted to it by one of my Twitter friends. Word was that Vanessa Powell, described on her Twitter profile as a “refugee supporter”, had been sent two anonymous tweets by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. They could […]
