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Human rights: what lies ahead for the next 70 years?
How innovative work is changing the future of human rights.
Our expert panel features human rights heroes who are successfully thinking outside the square. This event is co-presented with the Evatt Foundation.
December 10 this year marks the 70-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The past seven decades has seen the development of human rights treaties, international agencies, and a myriad of human rights NGOs seeking to address a range of injustices and violations.
But there is still a long way to go. While the world in 2018 looks very different to the way it did in 1948, human rights abuses are still rife – both the old ones that persist and new ones that are surfacing or gaining recognition. We need to imagine fresh and creative ways of thinking about and doing the work of human rights advocacy.
This expert panel will showcase some of the most innovative and original human rights work being done in Australia today. We invite you to join a lively and inspirational conversation about what we all need to do to forge vibrant forms of human rights action for the next 70 years.
This event was held on Monday 10 December, 2018 at the University of Sydney.
Speakers
- Larissa Baldwin is Senior Campaigner, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights at Getup. Larissa is from the Widjabul clan of the Bundjalung nation. She currently leads GetUp’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander campaigns and strategy nationally, building partnerships with frontline communities and empowerment of First Nations People to create change. Larissa was also Queensland campaigner for Australia's first Indigenous youth climate network and was previously the National Director of Seed. Larissa believes in seeking change through self-determination and grassroots leadership.
- Dulce Muñoz is a mother/feminist/refugee advocate. She is the National Convener of Mums4Refugees Sydney, a grassroots network of mothers that provides social, legal and material aid to people seeking asylum and people from refugee backgrounds. She collaborates with National Justice Project and Human Rights For All, she was a finalist for Do-Gooder 2017 and The WLS Foundation 2017. She is passionate about the role of motherhood as an agent of social change.
- Nas Campanella is a journalist and newsreader with the ABC and triple J. Nas is totally blind and has a neurological condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, which means she can’t read Braille. Nas has completed a communications degree at the University of Technology Sydney, majoring in journalism. In 2013 she earned a newsreading position at triple J, becoming the first blind newsreader in the world to read and operate the studio for herself live to air. Nas travels the world to speak at events on issues ranging from inclusive education, adaptive technology and supporting women to climb the corporate ladder.
- Danny Xanadu has been involved in advocacy and education for the Queer community for 25 years. Starting as the 'Sexuality Officer' at a Lismore University at the age of 17, they’ve gone on to take on several roles in academia, advisory boards, in headlining social justice conferences, in being a panellist and in public speaking as well as modelling for trans* visibility. In the arts, Danny makes political statements through their performances at kink and Queer gatherings, Danny does community care through regular Dungeon Monitor work and within the Queer community as a volunteer ACON Rover. They are the current Title holder, 'Mx Fetish’, and Danny was the first person in NSW to be registered as Gender Non-Specific by the NSW Roads and Maritime Services.
- Dinesh Wadiwel is a Senior Lecturer in human rights and socio-legal studies at the University of Sydney. He has had over 15 years experience working within civil society organisations, including in anti-poverty and disability rights roles. Dinesh is author of the monograph The War against Animals (Brill 2015) and is currently completing a book on animals and capitalism. Dinesh has also been involved in a project with researchers and Disabled Peoples Organisations exploring the application of the United Nations Convention against Torture to the treatment of people with disability.
The panel will be convened by Professor Danielle Celermajer, who founded the Human Rights program at the University of Sydney and is the University’s representative on the Evatt Foundation executive.
Image credits: (from left to right) 1. Photo by sebastianbourges, stock photo ID:475996188; 2. Pictured: Dulce Muñoz; 3. Photo by Tristan Billet on Unsplash