Tuesday, December 10 was International Human Rights Day, a day to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) being adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Concerningly, more than 70 years after the UDHR, this commitment to human rights is not yet embedded in our laws.
In fact, South Australia is one of the last liberal societies that doesn’t have a Human Rights Act.
While this is an issue affecting Australia at the national level, there are places around the country like Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland that are one step ahead of us and have passed this legislation into state and territory law.
For the past two years, civil society organisations have used the power and history behind International Human Rights Day to campaign to address this fundamental gap in our human rights protections.
On 10 December 2022, 153 organisations and experts endorsed a joint statement calling for a Human Rights Act, led by the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS), Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) and the Rights Resource Network of SA (RRNA).
On this same day in 2023, the South Australian government announced an exciting step – an inquiry into the potential to introduce a Human Rights Act for South Australia.
While the parliamentary inquiry remains ongoing, stakeholders and community members are eagerly anticipating the outcome and hoping for good news.
For International Human rights Day 2024, SACOSS, ALHR and RRNA continued their advocacy through hosting an online briefing, to talk about the ongoing importance of the human rights movement and how a Human Rights Act would make a difference.
What does The Guardian say?
The Guardian, Shona Reid, has been a strong advocate for introducing a Human Rights Act for South Australia.
Again expressing her support for the movement, Shona delivered a virtual message at Tuesday’s event, highlighting what these laws would mean for children and young people in our state.
“When I look at the human rights landscape in South Australia, I believe that children and young people have the greatest right to judge us harshly,” Shona said in her video message.
“We are seeing very clearly what happens when we leave the treatment of vulnerable people up to our humanity, without imposing accountability upon ourselves and our lawmakers.”
The Guardian’s advocacy in this space follows a submission earlier this year to the state Human Rights Act inquiry highlighting “consistent and alarming” incidents where the rights of children and young people in care and detention have not been not upheld.
The submission highlighted, in South Australia, we do not have a clear process for children and young people to challenge human rights violations or claim their rights have been violated.
While there are existing complaints systems and review processes, these are not focused on a rights culture.
Introducing a Human Rights Act would impose important accountabilities on government, and greatly expand the avenues for children and their families to seek justice, make complaints and seek meaningful remedies – such as compensation, policy change and recognition of harms caused.
“We have a chance to change our human rights framework and show children and young people in our communities that we are willing to be accountable for our choices and our actions,” Shona said at the event.
“It would force our governments – and all of us – to actively consider and be honest about the impacts of our choices and actions, on the lives of children and young people.
“If our government, systems, and communities are not willing to be open and transparent in this way, then I question: why not? Whose interests are being served?”
Let’s get it done
Earlier this year, a federal inquiry into establishing a human rights act recommended federal and state law be enshrined to ensure people’s rights and wellbeing are front of mind in decision and policymaking.
This inquiry received an overwhelming 335 submissions of which 87.2 per cent supported adopting a Human Rights Act.
At a community level, polling found around three in four Australians also support a Human Rights Act, and only three per cent opposed it.
Legal academics pointed out without comprehensive human rights legislation, Australia has a “patchwork quilt” approach to rights because protection is spread out amongst various laws that do not comprehensively cover all rights.
A human rights act for South Australia has long been necessary.
The longer it is delayed, the greater potential there is for serious violations which causes lifelong damage and prevent the ability for children and young people to thrive and reach their potential.
So as we move towards the end of the year and the start of 2025…let’s make a Human Rights Act happen for South Australia!
