Using International Treaties for Local Change
Shadow Reporting under Human Rights Conventions
- Emily Chew of the YWCA, Project Coordinator of Australia’s NGO Shadow Report under CEDAW.
- Rachel Ball, Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Resource Centre (HRLRC).
1:00pm–2:00pm, Wednesday 6 May 2009
Room 223, Melbourne Law School
Under several important international human rights treaties, Australia accepts an obligation to send regular reports about its compliance to the United Nations. Non-government organisations can also submit Shadow Reports, giving an independent, alternative and critical view about Australia’s compliance.
Emily Chew of YWCA Australia is one of the project coordinators of Australia’s 2009 NGO Shadow Report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Rachel Ball of the Human Rights Law Resource Centre has recently returned from New York, where she was part an the NGO delegation to brief the UN’s Human Rights Committee’s Review on Australia and present a major Shadow Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) endorsed by over 250 Australian NGOs.
Together, they will discuss some of the findings of the Shadow Reports, the lifecycle of a shadow report, and the broader mechanics and merits of the international treaty reporting system, both as a method for auditing domestic human rights protections and advancement and as an instrument for encouraging international scrutiny. They’ll also outline ways to get involved with future shadow reporting processes.
Attendees are invited to RSVP on Facebook or via the Melbourne Law School events website.
For further information and for other Social Justice Seminars, see the Social Justice section of our site.