Human Rights Assessment

Everyday we see horrific news from around the world where people's basic rights as human beings are taken away from them. A sample at present would include Gaddafi in Libya attempting to kill his own people, no freedom of speech or ability to practice religion in China, civil war in the Ivory Coast, people being held without charge in the United States and in Europe and Australia there is the poor treatment of refugees. By the way if you are interested in Libya or even want to research an issue another good source of information is Al-Jezeera - English.

In order to be able to take action and be aware of your rights the Legal Studies syllabus requires that you complete a case study on a recent Human Rights issue.

The best place to start is the Legal Studies textbook which will give you an overview of a number of case studies and how an evalaution is conducted.

Then I suggest you go to Human Rights Watch (an NGO which focuses the world's attention on human rights violations in order to give a voice to oppressed people and make the oppressors accountable for their crimes.) This site will allow you to choose an issue and will also give you an update on the legal and non-legal responses to the violation.

You should also go to the United Nations website. The link here provides you with access to the conventions and international law which is relevant to your assessment. UN instruments.

Remember when you complete your evaluation you need to make a judgement using a criteria. The criteria is based on whether the human right is efectively protected. (I believe if you decide that the system does not work you suggest improvements.)

Although PEARE is generally good it might not work - enforceability will definitely be part of equation. Other aspects you might like to think about are- balance of standards between nations- that is are all nations treated equally regarding this right, I have added a copy of the assessment task - Assessment task 3 and some information on the development of Human Rights over time. Other useful links- Coalition to stop Child Soldiers Human trafficking .org Amnesty International list of Human Rights Non Government Organisations

Legal - Modern day slavery

The Wei Tang case is very important regarding human rights and the definition of modern slavery in Australia. It was eventually found that ownership is an old fashioned definition of slavery however that 'control over freedom and movement' and to be 'deprived of choice' did exist.

It is estimated that between 400-1000 women (Project respect) are brought to Australia every year for the purposes of sex work and the UN estimates that up to 4 million people are trafficked yearly.

Sex Slavery- the Wei Tang case involved the first person to be charged guilty for possessing of sex slaves. Five women were brought to Australia and told they had to work off debts of $45,000 before they could earn an income. Wei Tang received 10 yrs in June 2006 from the Victorian County Court.
On appeal "her convictions were quashed and a fresh trial was ordered after the Court of Appeal ruled directions given to the jury were inadequate." The prosecution then appealed to the High Court which upheld (agreed) with the original decision which means she is /was guilty. SMH Aug 08.
From an Australian legal point of view this is a landmark case as Weng argued that she was involved in debt bondage not slavery. The Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwlth) is the issue and the actual defintion of slavery. After hearing the appeal the majority of High Court agreed that the defintion which comes from the 1926 International Convention to supress the Slave Trade was correctly applied.
For additional information see Madam or slave? (The Age) or for a comprehensive discussion see this ANU report which goes into the legal detail.