You spoke up for human rights
Dear friend,
Amnesty International facilitated over 10,000 submissions to the National Human Rights Consultation Thank you - last year you made a submission to Australia's National Human Rights Consultation. Along with thousands of others, you took the time to tell our Government how you felt human rights should be protected in this country.
Overwhelmingly, more than 29,000 people - including 10,000 Amnesty International supporters - felt that Australians needed a Human Rights Act: proper, overarching legislation to protect our human rights. And after receiving all those submissions, meeting with communities around the country and holding a series of public hearings and expert panels, the Human Rights Consultation Committee made its recommendation in September 2009.
That recommendation was plain and simple: that Australia adopt a Human Rights Act. In April the Government finally responded. And despite the calls from the public around Australia, it announced that we will not get the Human Rights Act we called for.
This response is much more than a disappointment - it’s a failure. A failure to respond to the voices of Australians, a failure to address the findings of its own extensive consultation process, and a failure to provide better protection for vulnerable people.
Yet our overwhelming response to this consultation was a major success. We showed that Australians do care about human rights in our country, and that we will take action to voice our concerns. Together, we will speak out on the human rights performance of our leaders and hold them to account.
And there's no more important time to use your voice than right now. Appallingly, it appears that human suffering has become a political game in Australia. Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum claims are frozen and Curtin detention centre in WA is being reopened. Politicians on all sides are fearmongering with refugees to try to win political points.
We need your voice today. Thousands of people have written to their local MPs in the past week to tell them that we don't accept this treatment of desperate people fleeing war and persecution.
Please join them and tell your MP that as constituents, we will not stand for it
Yours with hope,
Sophie Peer
Campaign Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia
|
