As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine unfolds, international crimes are arguably being perpetrated in the territory of Ukraine. The international community’s permanent response to international crime is the International Criminal Court (ICC) which was established in The Hague in The Netherlands pursuant to the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The current ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has, like much of the world, turned his focus to Ukraine with a team of ICC investigators heading into Ukraine on Thursday 3 March to conduct investigations into possible crimes. Read more...
On Tuesday 8 March 2022 we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) with its United Nations (UN) theme of ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’. It recognises the global contribution of women to the climate change response. Five years ago, the UN theme embodied a similar call for gender equality (‘Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030’). That theme highlighted disparities in the division of household labour as a barrier to personal economic advancement for women. Today, the messaging has a more inclusive emphasis: that gender equality can lead to an improved, more sustainable future for everyone. Read more...
In 2021, the Australian Government made a series of announcements regarding visa programs to fill labour shortages in the agricultural sector. These included merging the existing Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) into the new Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme and, separately, creating a new Australian Agriculture visa program. This FlagPost examines how the new programs will operate and what the key differences between them will be. Read more...
The past week has seen significant challenges to the peace and security of Europe with Russia escalating its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a violation of international law and has been condemned as such by world leaders, the United Nations and NATO. The Russia-Ukraine border was already violated by Russia in 2014 with the invasion and occupation of Crimea. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said: ‘What we see now is that a country which is already invaded is suffering further invasion.’ States and commentators on all sides have drawn heavily on the language of international law in relation to the situation in Ukraine, including Russia’s c... Read more...
In the escalating situation due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international community is turning to the United Nations (UN) to respond to the crisis. Key violations of international law, can be responded to through the UN which was established in 1945 in the aftermath of the Second World War. This Flagpost will review the role of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in responding to violations of international law. Read more...
On 9 February 2022, the House of Representatives resumed debate on the Government’s Religious Discrimination Bill 2021, Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 and Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2021. Consideration of the Bills continued beyond midnight, concluding shortly before 5am the following day. Five Liberal Party members voted against the Coalition’s position on the Bills, or ‘crossed the floor’, at one or more points—Katie Allen (Higgins, Vic.), Bridget Archer (Bass, Tas.), Fiona Martin (Reid, NSW), Dave Sharma (Wentworth, NSW) and Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, NSW). Read more...
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