Human Rights Awards (Australia)
The Human Rights Awards are a series of awards for achievements in the field of human rights in Australia, bestowed by the Australian Human Rights Commission at the Human Rights Day Ceremony in December in each year.
History
The Human Rights Awards were established in 1987 by the then Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to recognise the "contribution to Australian society of a wide variety of men and women committed to issues of human rights, social justice and equality".
Description
The Australian Human Rights Commission receives nominations for the Human Rights Awards and Medals categories, with the choice of recipient made by an independent panel. The individual Human Rights Award and Medal is awarded only to an individual who, to be eligible, must have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia in at least one of the following areas:
- Taking action to overcome discrimination or infringements of human rights within Australia
- Encouraging greater social harmony within Australia in a range of areas such as race relations, gender equality and the treatment of children and young people
- Enhancing the rights of Indigenous Australians
- Promoting equal opportunity for people with a disability in Australia or countering discrimination on the basis of age or sexuality.
- Increasing awareness of issues of injustice or inequality in Australia.
In addition, the entrants must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.[1]
The awards are bestowed by the AHRC at the Human Rights Day Ceremony in December in each year.
Categories
As of 2018 categories include:[2]
- Human Rights Medal (Highest in this awards)
- Young People’s Human Rights Medal (from 2008)
- Law Award
- Business Award
- Government Award (from 2018)
- Racism. It Stops With Me Award (from 2015)
- Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award
- Community Organisation Award
- Media Award
- Government Award
The Government Award category was created in 2018, when the finalists included three state government programs and one local government program.[3]
Discontinued categories
- Literature Award (Discontinued in 2015)
- Print and Online Media Award (Discontinued in 2015)
- Radio Award (Discontinued in 2015)
- Television Award (Discontinued in 2015)
The Awards are presented at the Commission’s annual Human Rights Medal and Awards ceremony.
Human Rights Medal
Recipients include:[4]
- 1987 - Rose Colless OAM
- 1988 - Reverend Dorothy McMahon
- 1989 - Reverend Robert Ridley
- 1990 - Professor Fred Hollows AC
- 1991 - Justice Michael Kirby AC, CMG
- 1992 - Eddie Mabo - Reverend Dave Passi - Sam Passi - James Rice - Celuia Mapo Salee - Barbara Hocking
- 1993 - No Medal
- 1994 - Dr. Roberta Sykes
- 1995 - Justice Elizabeth Evatt AC
- 1996 - Rebecca Peters - Robert Riley
- 1997 - Dr. Faith Bandler AM
- 1998 - Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis
- 1999 - Helen Bayes
- 2000 - Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH
- 2001 - Dr. Arnold "Puggy" Hunter
- 2002 - Michael Raper
- 2003 - Marion Le
- 2004 - Dick Estens - Deborah Kilroy
- 2005 - Kevin Cocks
- 2006 - Phillip Adams AO - Father Chris Riley AM
- 2007 - Jeremy Jones AM
- 2008 - Les Malezer
- 2009 - Stephen Keim SC
- 2010 - Thérèse Rein
- 2011 - Ronald Merkel QC[5]
- 2012 - Ian Thorpe OAM
- 2013 - Sister Clare Condon[6]
- 2014 - Dorothy Hoddinott AO
- 2015 - Peter Greste
- 2016 - Pat Anderson AO
- 2017 - Johnathan Thurston[7]
- 2018 - Justice Peter McClellan AM - Chrissie Foster[8]
- 2019 - Rosemary Kayess[9][10]
Young People’s Human Rights Medal
Recipients include:[4]
- 2008 - Alan Huynh
- 2009 - Venay Menon
- 2010 - Jack Manning Bancroft
- 2011 - Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy
- 2012 - Krista McMeeken
- 2013 - Mariah Kennedy
- 2014 - Daniel Haile-Michael and Maki Issa
- 2015 - Yen Eriksen
- 2016 - Arash Bordbar
- 2017 - Georgie Stone
- 2018 - Saxon Mullins
- 2019 - Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts[9][10][11]
Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award
Named to honour Tony Fitzgerald AC QC. Recipients include:[12]
- 2011 Lola Edwards
- 2012 Pat Anderson
- 2013 Carolyn Frohmader
- 2014 Damian Griffis
- 2015 Ludo McFerran
- 2016 Jane Rosengrave
- 2017 Barbara Elizabeth Spriggs
- 2018 Catia Malaquias
- 2019 Jasmine Cavanagh[9][10]
Racism. It Stops With Me Award
Finalists and recipients have been:
- 2015 Tasmanian Students Against Racism (Winner), Football Federation Victoria, Multicultural Development Association, All Together Now[13]
- 2016 National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council (Winner), Welcome to Australia, Beyondblue, All Together Now, Fadzi Whande, Hobsons Bay City Council[14]
- 2017 Cohealth Arts Generator Sisters and Brothers Program (Winner), Clinton Pryor, Sean Gordon, ActNow Theatre and Reconciliation SA (joint), Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra and Why Documentaries (joint)[15]
- 2018 Nyadol Nyuon (winner), Mariam Veiszadeh, Welcoming Cities, E-Raced, ActNow Theatre and Reconciliation SA (joint)[16]
- 2019 The Final Quarter, documentary film by Shark Island Productions (winner)[17][10]
Business Award
- 2018: Konica Minolta Australia, recognised for its leadership on the issue of modern slavery.[2][18]
- 2019: STREAT[10][19]
Law Award
- 2019: Kate Eastman[10]
Government Award
- 2018:
- 2019: Armidale Regional Council[10]
Community Organisation Award
- 2019: Just Reinvest NSW[10]
Media Award
2019: ABC Investigation into Aged Care[10]
References
- Matthew.Bretag (9 July 2013). "Nominations". hrawards.humanrights.gov.au. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- "2018 Winners". Human Rights Awards. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
- "Government finalists named for human rights awards". The Mandarin. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "2016-human-rights-medal-and-awards-winners". Human Rights Awards. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "Leading Australians recognised in Australia's annual Human Rights Awards". Alternative Law Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "2013 Human Rights Medal and Awards Winners". Human Rights Awards. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- Sanda, Dominica (8 December 2017). "NRL star Johnathan Thurston wins human rights award in eventful ceremony". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- "Winners announced - 2018 Human Rights Awards". AHRC. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- "Human Rights Awards 2019". Anti-Discrimination NSW. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "Rosemary Kayess wins 2019 Human Rights Medal". Mirage News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "UNSW Law student named as a finalist for Human Rights Medal". Inside UNSW. University of New South Wales. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "2018-human-rights-medal-and-awards-winners". Human Rights Awards. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2020. (Link to other years from here.)
- "2015 Human Rights Awards winners and finalists". Australian Human Rights Commission. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- "2016 Human Rights Awards winners and finalists". Australian Human Rights Commission. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- "2017 Human Rights Medal and Awards Winners". Australian Human Rights Commission. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- "Winners and Finalists of the 2018 Human Rights Awards". Australian Human Rights Commission. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- "Finalists of the 2019 Human Rights Awards". Australian Human Rights Commission (Human Rights Awards). 16 October 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
- "Konica Minolta receives top honour in the Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Awards". Recognition PR. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- "History and Model". STREAT. Retrieved 24 July 2020.