Human rights complaints
Summary:
This project will assess the effectiveness of the mechanisms used to resolve human rights complaints – conciliation, mediation and litigation – in four Australian jurisdictions.
Researchers:
- Professor Dominique Allen (Monash)
- Professor Tamara Walsh (University of Queensland)
Project background and aims:
Working with industry partners from the legal sector and four human rights commissions, this project will generate knowledge on human rights complaints and on the views of key stakeholders about the effectiveness of the mechanisms used to resolve human rights complaints.
The project aims to produce a robust evidence base on human rights complaints for the development of effective ways of resolving such complaints and to stimulate appropriate reforms of law and policy. The project is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (2023-2025).
The project is supported by an Advisory Committee comprised of Professor the Hon Kevin Bell AM KC (Chair), Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum AO, the Hon Roslyn Atkinson AO, Dr Helen Watchirs OAM, Debbie Kilroy OAM, Boneta-Marie Mabo, Kieran Pender and Jonathan Hall Spence.
Our Partners are the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Queensland Human Rights Commission, the ACT Human Rights Commission, the Victorian Ombudsman, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, Caxton Legal Centre and Canberra Community Law.
Methodology:
We will investigate this issue by undertaking a mixed methods study using doctrinal, empirical and comparative methodologies, working with our industry partners and drawing on the expertise of our Advisory Committee.
Publications:
- Tamara Walsh, Dominique Allen, ‘Twenty Years of Human Rights Protection in the ACT: What Have We Learned?’ (2024) 47(2) UNSW Law Journal 391-414.