Events
1. 2011 Costello Lecture – Enlarging Our Vision of Rights
Speaker Monash Alumnus, Mr Brian Walters SC, prominent barrister and human rights advocate (BA/LLB 1977) Introduced by Tim Costello AO (BJuris 1976, LLB 1978, DipEd 1979), CEO, World Vision Australia Last year the Rudd Government rejected the recommendation of the National Human Rights Consultation Committee for a Human Rights Act. Not the Victorian Charter is under challenge. Is it asking too much to have human rights protection in Australia? Or do we in fact ask too little? With dangerous climate change now a reality, perhaps it is not merely the rights of humans we should seek to recognise and protect. Brian Walters SC is a Melbourne senior counsel. He is a former president of Liberty Victoria and has written and spoken widely on human rights issues. He has also had a long involvement in environmental issues, including co-founding ‘Wild’ – Australia’s wilderness adventure magazine – and campaigning on numerous environmental issues from the Franklin River to the forests of East Gippsland.
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Date: Thursday 15 September, 2011
Time: 6.00pm – 7.15pm
RSVP: Tuesday 13 September, 2011 law-marketing@monash.edu or (03) 9905 2630
2. The High Court and Refugee Policy: Implications and International Comparisons
Date: Wednesday 14 September, 2011
Time: 1.00pm – 2.00pm
Venue: Monash University, Faculty of Law, Lecture Theatre L1 (Basement level), Wellington Road, Clayton Campus
RSVP: castan.centre@monash.edu or (03) 9905 3327
Full details: http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2011/refugee-policy.html
Public Seminar – All Welcome
This seminar will discuss the recent decision of the High Court of Australia on the so-called ‘Malaysian solution’ (‘M70’). The speakers, from the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Political Science at Monash University will address both the legal and political implications of that judgement. In particular, the seminar will discuss the importance of Australia’s international obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention, comparisons with regional arrangements in the European Union and the political ramifications of the judgement.
Speakers
Dr Susan Kneebone is a Professor and a member of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law in the Faculty of Law, Monash University. Her teaching and research interests are International Refugee Law, Forced Migration and Citizenship and Migration Law. She has published a number of books and articles on refugee law, forced migration and human trafficking.
Maria O’Sullivan is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Monash University and an Associate member of the Castan Centre for Human Rights. She teaches Administrative Law and International Refugee Law. Maria is the author of a number of international and national publications on refugee law, including European asylum law and policy.
Professor James Walter is Professor of Political Science in the School of Political and Social Inquiry. He has broad interests in Australian politics and history. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures (UK). Professor Walter has published widely on Australian politics, history, biography and culture.
NB: If this particular educational activity is relevant to your immediate or long term needs in relation to your professional development and practice of the law, then you should claim one ‘unit’ for each hour of attendance.
3. The Success and Challenges of Transitional Justice in Sierra Leone
Date: Monday 26 September, 2011
Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
RSVP: castan.centre@monash.edu or (03) 9905 3327
Full details: http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2011/sierra-leone.html
Sierra Leone, a country that experienced ten years of one of the most brutish civil wars between 1991 and 2002, can offer answers at least to some of the myriad of accountability questions raised in transitional justice arena. Sierra Leone essentially established two institutions: a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SLTRC) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). The SLTRC assembled together under single roofs many perpetrators of atrocities during the war and victims of the same war, as well as those who could have created the sociological, political and economic environment that led to the war in the first place. The SCSL is a unique hybrid tribunal of local and international law, established to indict, prosecute, and convict those who bear ‘greatest responsibility for war crimes’ committed within the country during the period of the Sierra Leonean civil war. This presentation will look at the political, sociological as well as legal successes and challenges of the SLTRC and SCSL, discussing the ramifications of setting up those two mechanisms simultaneously and the financial implication of setting up the court.
Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai is a lawyer by profession, whose only brother was abducted and killed by rebel forces when Sierra Leone exploded into civil law. In 2003, he established The Society for Democratic Initiatives (SDI) in Sierra Leone, a non-government organization working to entrench democratic governance and to protect and promote human rights. SDI plays a critical role towards democratic development in Sierra Leone given issues arising in the wake of a one-party governing system and a decade long civil war. Although the war officially ended in February 2002, socio-economic progress remains extraordinarily difficult to achieve in a political climate of corruption, harassment, violence and intimidation. Good governance by leaders with the interests of the common people at heart is the key to progress, and SDI’s unflinching commitment to this goal increases the prospect that history does not ever repeat itself.
During Sierra Leone’s transition, Emmanuel worked at both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The Victorian Bar kindly acknowledge Travel Bar who have sponsored Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai’s travel to Australia
NB: If this particular educational activity is relevant to your immediate or long term needs in relation to your professional development and practice of the law, then you should claim one ‘unit’ for each hour of attendance.