The Human Rights Awards are a series of awards for achievements in the field of
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
in Australia, bestowed by the
Australian Human Rights Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...
at the
Human Rights Day Ceremony in December in each year.
History
The Human Rights Awards were established in 1987 by the then Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) "to recognise the contributions of individuals across the nation who made it their life's mission to champion human rights, social justice, and equality for all". The award began as an event to recognise human rights in film, television and literature, but covers a wider spectrum. Of the original categories, only the Human Rights Medal has endured.
In 2020, owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...
, instead of the awards ceremony, ten "Human Rights Heroes" were recognised as finalists, including the
Torres Strait 8
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...
and
Corey Tutt
Corey Aden Tutt is an Aboriginal Australian mentor and Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM champion. He is the founder of DeadlyScience, an initiative that provides STEM Resources to remote schools in Australia. Tutt is the ...
.
Past categories
In 1990 categories included:
*Poetry Award
*Drama Award
*Prose Award
*Film Award
*Songwriting Award
*Television Drama Award
*Television Documentary Award
*Radio Documentary/ Current Affairs Award
*Metropolitan Newspapers Award
*Regional Newspapers Award
*Magazines Award
The Literature Award, Print and Online Media Award, Radio Award, and Television Awards were discontinued in 2015.
In 2018 the categories included:
* Human Rights Medal (Highest in this awards)
* Young People’s Human Rights Medal (from 2008)
* Law Award
* Business Award
* Government Award (from 2018)
* Racism. It Stops With Me Award (from 2015)
* Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award
* Community Organisation Award
* Media Award
* Government Award (created 2018
Description
, there are three award categories:
[
* Human Rights Medal
* Young People's Medal (for under-25s)
* Community Human Rights Champion
The Australian Human Rights Commission receives nominations for the Human Rights Awards and Medals categories, with the choice of recipient made by an independent panel. The individual Human Rights Award and Medal is awarded only to an individual who, to be eligible, must have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia in at least one of the following areas:][
* Taking action to overcome discrimination or infringements of human rights within Australia
* Encouraging greater social harmony within Australia in a range of areas such as race relations, gender equality and the treatment of children and young people
* Enhancing the rights of ]Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
* Promoting equal opportunity for people with a disability in Australia or countering discrimination on the basis of age or sexuality.
* Increasing awareness of issues of injustice or inequality in Australia.
In addition, the entrants must be a lawful resident of Australia.[
The awards are usually bestowed by the AHRC on Human Rights Day (10 December) each year, with a ceremony prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced online since then.
]
Human Rights Medal
Recipients include:Dick Estens
Richard Lucas Estens (born 1949 in Gilgandra, New South Wales) is an Australian cotton farmer and businessman.
Early life
Estens was born in Gilgandra and was brought up on a property close to the town. He was educated at All Saints College i ...
- Deborah Kilroy
*2005 - Kevin Cocks
*2006 - Phillip Adams AO - Father Chris Riley AM
*2007 - Jeremy Jones
*2008 - Les Malezer
*2009 - Stephen Keim SC
*2010 - Thérèse Rein
Thérèse Virginia Rein (born 17 July 1958) is an Australian entrepreneur who is the founder of Ingeus, an international employment and business psychology services company.
Rein is the wife of Kevin Rudd, who was the Prime Minister of Austra ...
*2011 - Ron Merkel Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...
QC
*2012 - Ian Thorpe
*2013 - Sister Clare Condon
*2014 - Dorothy Hoddinott
*2015 - Peter Greste
*2016 - Pat Anderson
*2017 - Johnathan Thurston
*2018 - Justice Peter McClellan AM - Chrissie Foster
*2019 - Rosemary KayessLarissa Behrendt
Larissa Yasmin Behrendt (born 1969) is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education ...
*2022 - Mahboba Rawi and Nawid Cina
Young People’s Human Rights Medal
Recipients include:[
*2008 - Alan Huynh
*2009 - Venay Menon
*2010 - Jack Manning Bancroft
*2011 - Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy
*2012 - Krista McMeeken
*2013 - Mariah Kennedy
*2014 - Daniel Haile-Michael and Maki Issa
*2015 - Yen Eriksen
*2016 - Arash Bordbar
*2017 - ]Georgie Stone
Georgie Robertson Stone is an Australian actress, writer and transgender rights advocate. At the age of 10, Stone was the youngest person to receive hormone blockers in Australia, which set a precedent that eventually changed the law that comp ...
*2018 - Saxon Mullins
*2019 - Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts[
*2020 - ''No Medal''
*2021 - Chanel Contos
*2022 - Caroline Cecile Fletcher]
Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award
Named to honour Tony Fitzgerald . Recipients include:
* 2011 Lola Edwards
Lola Edwards (née McNaughton, 1946–2011) and was a founding member of Link-up (NSW). Edwards was a strong advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families, later dubbed the Stolen Generatio ...
* 2012 Pat Anderson
* 2013 Carolyn Frohmader
Carolyn Patricia Frohmader (18 February 1965 – present) is an Australian human rights campaigner for women and girls with disabilities, and the long-serving Executive Director of Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA).
Biography
Born in Mo ...
* 2014 Damian Griffis
* 2015 Ludo McFerran
* 2016 Jane Rosengrave
* 2017 Barbara Elizabeth Spriggs
* 2018 Catia Malaquias
* 2019 Jasmine Cavanagh[
]
Racism. It Stops With Me Award
Finalists and recipients have been:
* 2015 Tasmanian Students Against Racism (Winner), Football Federation Victoria, Multicultural Development Association, All Together Now
* 2016 National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council (Winner), Welcome to Australia, Beyondblue, All Together Now, Fadzi Whande, Hobsons Bay City Council
The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre.
It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of l ...
* 2017 Cohealth Arts Generator Sisters and Brothers Program (Winner), Clinton Pryor, Sean Gordon, ActNow Theatre
ActNow Theatre is a theatre company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 2007, it is a community-based company whose work focuses on social justice issues and techniques. From 2007 until 2020, the artistic director was Edwin Kemp Att ...
and Reconciliation SA (joint), Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra and Why Documentaries (joint)
* 2018 Nyadol Nyuon
Nyadol Nyuon, (born 1987) is an Australian lawyer and human rights advocate, who was born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia, of a family fleeing the Second Sudanese Civil War. She works as a commercial litigator in Melbourne and is a regular media c ...
(winner), Mariam Veiszadeh
Mariam Veiszadeh is an Afghan-born Australian lawyer and writer known for her anti-racism campaigns.
Early life and education
Veiszadeh was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1984. In 1988, when Veiszadeh was four years old, her family fled Afghanis ...
, Welcoming Cities, E-Raced, ActNow Theatre
ActNow Theatre is a theatre company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 2007, it is a community-based company whose work focuses on social justice issues and techniques. From 2007 until 2020, the artistic director was Edwin Kemp Att ...
and Reconciliation SA
Reconciliation Australia is a non-government, not-for-profit foundation established in January 2001 to promote a continuing national focus for reconciliation between Indigenous (i.e. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) and non-Indig ...
(joint)
* 2019 ''The Final Quarter
''The Final Quarter'' is a 2019 Australian documentary, directed by Ian Darling and produced by Shark Island Productions, about the final stages of the Australian football career of Adam Goodes, during which he was the target of repeated boo ...
'', documentary film by Shark Island Productions
Shark Island Productions is a documentary film production company based in Sydney, Australia, established in 2001 by Ian Darling. creates extensive education, outreach and community engagement campaigns with its films. It is the production arm ...
(winner)[
]
Business Award
*2018: Konica Minolta Australia, recognised for its leadership on the issue of modern slavery.[
*2019: STREAT][
]
Law Award
*2019: Kate Eastman
Kate Eastman (born 1966) is a leading Australian human rights lawyer and academic. She was co-founder of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) in 1992 and was for many years President.
Early life and education
Eastman was educated at ...
[
*2022: ]Jane McAdam
Jane Alexandra McAdam (born 1974) is an Australian legal scholar, and expert in climate change and refugees. She is a Scientia Professor at the University of NSW, and is the inaugural Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law ...
Government Award
*2018:
*2019: Armidale Regional Council[
]
Community Organisation Award
*2019: Just Reinvest NSW[
*2022: Andrea Comastri ]
Media Award
*2019: Jess Hill, for her non-fiction work, ''See What You Made Me Do'', about domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
References
External links
*
{{Human Rights Awards
Human rights awards
Awards established in 1987
Australian humanitarian awards