Beyond Charity: Incorporating Human Rights into Development

Summary

'Helping the needy’ was the charitable impulse that first inspired international aid in the 20th century. Now, concepts of participation, empowerment, accountability and rights are the foundation for many government, non-government and multilateral aid programs. Rights-based approaches integrate the norms, standards and principles of the international human rights system into the aims and processes of development. Some see such approaches as central to sustainable development. But rights-based approaches also raise important issues. How should we balance individual and social rights? To what extent should development focus on advancing rights compared with other goals such as promoting security or trade? How do we ensure real participation for the most marginalised? And what’s the report card to date – where are we on the charity-rights spectrum?

Venue

Fremantle Town Hall

Date & time

Friday, 29 August 2008 6:00 PM

MODERATOR

Anna George – Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Murdoch University and a Murdoch graduate, Ms George has had a long and distinguished diplomatic career, mostly recently as Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia. Ms George served as Alternate Representative at the Australian Permanent Mission to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague; represented Australia at the Middle East Arms Control and Regional Security discussions; was First Secretary at Australia’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Vienna; and a member of the Australian Delegation to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York.

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SPEAKERS

Dr Susu Thatun – World Vision Australia’s Senior Policy Advisor on Child Protection and Trafficking. Before taking on this role, Susu spent seven years as Program Manager at the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking. Susu’s work has taken her to Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, working with families whose lives are torn apart by child trafficking. She is also responsible for informing the Australian Government about trafficking in Asia, and the impact and challenges of its approaches in the region.

Professor Julian Disney – part-time Professor and Director of the Social Justice Project at the University of New South Wales. Professor Disney’s distinguished career in public law includes terms as Director of the Centre for International and Public Law at ANU, World President of the International Council on Social Welfare, Law Reform Commissioner in New South Wales, National Chair of Anti-Poverty Week, and Convenor of the Neighbours Program, which works to strengthen engagement between community leaders in Australia and neighbouring Asian countries.

Dr Carmen Lawrence – Professorial Fellow in the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia. Over an outstanding political career spanning 21 years Dr Lawrence has been Premier of Western Australia and Australia’s first woman Premier; Minister for Human Services and Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women in the Keating Labor Government; and President of the Australian Labor Party. Dr Lawrence has been an active and vocal peace campaigner, speaking at rallies and forums around the country. She also speaks and writes regularly about refugee policy and democratic reform.