Legal Studies LCMID

1948 UDHR purpose of Human Rights

Recognise the inherent dignity, equal and inalienable rights of all humanity

Development of the Abolition of Slavery

European colonisation of Americas and transatlantic slave trade in 17-19th century → Attempts in 12th century iceland grew into abolitionism in the 18th century → Ruled illegal in Britain’s 1772 Somersett → End of Civil War in 1865 freed slaves in America

Where is the Right to Freedom from Slavery held?

Article 4 UDHR (1948)

Development of the Right to Universal Suffrage

Restricted to rich male landowners in ancient times → Demands for all-male suffrage in 19th century → Women’s suffrage developed separately through suffragette movement

Where is the Right to Universal Suffrage recognised?

Article 21 (1) UDHR (1948)

Development of Labour Rights

Industrial revolution in 18-19th centuries → Response to poor conditions → 1871 British Trade Unions Act → Labour Party in Australia

Where are Labour Rights recognised?

UDHR Articles 23 and 24

Developing right to education

Historically limited to family or religious tutors → 19th century UK and France introduced compulsory education for children, NSW Public Instruction Act 1880 followed suit

Where is the right to Free Elementary Education recognised?

Article 26 UDHR 1948

Development of the Collective Right to Self Determination

Fought for throughout history → Recognised in US Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776 → French Revolution → WWI and WWII led to the collapse of colonial powers and recognition of self-determination as a critical right

Where is the Right to Self Determination enshrined?

Article 1 (2) of the 1945 UN Charter and ICESCR

Developing recognition of environmental rights

Recognised in some human rights instruments such as African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, European Charter of Rights → No universal recognition

Where are environmental rights mentioned or recognised?

Stockholm Declaration 1972, Rio Declaration 1992, and Kyoto Protocol 1997

Development of the establishment of a Right to Peace

Entitlement to live free from conflict, war, or any form of oppression → Article 1(1) of UN Charter 1945 recognizes this → State peace is the right to peace within your country and the peace between countries

Main piece of anti-discrimination legislation in Australia; adopted in accordance with International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Racial Discrimination Act 1975

How many people are currently in modern slavery?

50 million

Where is the right to Freedom from Slavery enshrined both internationally and domestically?

Criminal Code Act 1995 (cth), Article 4 UDHR, Article 8 ICCPR

Ineffective dealing of Australia with Modern Slavery

Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth)

Case of manslaughter by criminal negligence as parents rejected conventional medical treatment for their daughter with eczema.

R v Manju Sam (2009)

20 years non-parole period and life in prison sentence for a fire set to a hostel that killed 15. Murder.

R v Long (2001)

Key piece of legislation outlining police powers

Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW)

Where laws regarding evidence are contained

Evidence Act 1995 (NSW)

Criticism towards the imprecise legal threshold for a justified strip search

UNSW and Redfern Legal Centre, ‘Rethinking Strip Searches by NSW Police’ (2019)

Watchdog body for NSW Police and relevant article LCMID

Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) + Police had ‘no idea’ about strip search laws, watchdog finds (SMH, 2020)

Act governing bail laws and amendments which made it harder to access bail

Bail Act 2013 (NSW), amended 2016, and 2022 introduced presumption against bail for some offences and 2022 required bail to be refused when full-time detention is likely

Article discussing the Attorney-General saying that bail laws needed to be stricter after drug kingpin Baluch went on the run and killed a man

Bail laws to be scrutinised after ‘contentious’ decisions, SMH 2021

Scheme which abolished committal hearings and introduced charge certification and case conferencing

Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Scheme (2018)

Judge who criticised guilty plea deal scheme as criminals were not consequential thinkers

District Court Judge McClintock

Former NSW DPP who spoke in support of charge negotiation in 2012

Former NSW DPP Nicholas Cowdery

Case showing the ineffectiveness of charge negotiation as a man who tried to kill his former partner got off with malicious injury with intent

R v Koch (2009)

DNA evidence law that allows it to be used

Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 (NSW)

Effective uses of DNA evidence

R v Xie (2017) and R v Holdom (2018)

Ineffective LCMID for DNA evidence, DNA contamination

CSI effect and Issues of DNA and Race Taint Justice (SMH, 2019), R v Jama (2009)

Where is the right to a legal charge enshrined?

1976 ICCPR and Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)

Law reform improving transparency of criminal defences

2013 Reforms to Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW)

Self defence case where the accused must have ‘reasonable grounds’ with ‘proportional and reasonable force’

R v Zecevic (1987) HCA

Controversy surrounding the defence of mental illness

'Man not guilty of son’s stabbing murder due to mental illness’, (ABC, 2019) and ‘Criminals using mental illness as a defence frustrating police and prosecutors’ (Daily Telegraph, 2011)

Reality behind the fact that only 24/40 cases of mental illness defence are successful

NSW Law Reform Commission Report on Mental Illness (2012)

Mandatory minimum sentencing being praised for reflecting public morality and matching community expectations, act which was amended

Premier Barry O’Farrel, Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) in 2011 and 2014

Critiques towards the ‘one size fits all’ approach of sentences

Former DPP Nick Cowdery and ‘Mandatory Minimum Sentences are a legal and judicial muddle’ (SMH 2014)

Guidelines to sentencing procedures

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)

Example of intoxicated assault occasioning death

R v Loveridge (2013)

Misreporting of the media to fuel public outrage that led to one-punch laws

Four years for a life… (SMH, 2013)

UDHR article that states everyone has the right to adequate housing

UDHR Article 25 and ICESCR Article 11 (1)

Law governing the sale of land, cooling off period, and standard contract of sale

Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW)

Main law providing rights and protections to tenants

Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW)

NGO which measures housing affordability using the 30/40 rule

National Shelter and the Rental Affordability Index. Lowest 30% of incomes can now only afford 2% of properties

Non-taxable payment from Aus government via centrelink to support rent payments

Commonwealth Rent Assistance

CRA amendments

Increased 15% in 2023 and 10% in 2024. Grattan Institute recommends further 50% increase

CRA criticisms

Professor Chris Martin said assistance too low and poorly targeted in 2017. Commonwealth rent assistance has no effect on australia’s housing affordability anglicare says (2023, The Guardian)

Effectiveness of non-legal responses to affordability

St George Community Housing provides housing with new apartments, media unable to improve housing affordability on their own but has allowed for people to criticise efforts like Saul Eslake’s critiques in The Guardian 2024 towards negative gearing

Human Rights commissioner who called out the rental crisis disproportionately affecting those with diverse backgrounds

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall

Actions taken by NCAT if discrimination is proven

Compensation and order to not breach discrimination legislation again, and an apology. but no provision of shelter

Non-legal responses to discrimination in shelter

Tenants union NSW provide factsheet to advise about discrimination in housing

Somewhat effective discrimination case

Lamb v Samuels Real Estate Pty Ltd (1998)

Ineffective discrimination case

Gywali v Peniazeff (2021)

Percentage of homeless who are actually sleeping rough and percentage of new homeless who are women

6.2% and 80%

LCMID about increasing rates of homelessness in Australia and calling to end no fault evictions, which actually did happen in 2024 amendment to RTA 2010

More than 1600 Australia’s pushed into homelessness each month… (The Guardian, 2023)

Federal commitment to halve homelessness in Australia by 2020 through providing preventional, reactionary, and long-term support (didn’t really work)

White Paper: The Road Home (2008)

Funding for secure and affordable housing to states and territories, ended in 2023 and replaced by NASHH

National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (2018), Productivity Commission said did not improve affordability in private rental market. The Conversation said it acted more as a guide to policy (2023)

effective non-legal response to homelessness that provides a ‘wraparound approach’ whilst helping discrimination

Salvation Army

criticisms of the media misreporting homelessness and successes of media reporting

‘The Politics of Homelessness in Australian Print Media’ Dr Carole Zufferey, vs ‘More than 1600 Australians pushed into homelessness each month…. The Guardian, 2023

Overworked nature of the Social Housing system

As 190,000 households wait for social housing, application numbers are only increasing (The Guardian, 2024)

Effective promise in 2024/25 Budget to dedicate funds from selling houses to building and repairing new social homes

NSW Budget to deliver 30,000 new homes, promising historic investment in social housing (ABC, 2024)

Ineffective lack of housing revealed in A Current Affair

A Current Affair ‘Housing Crisis’ (2017) said housing will continue to be unavailable at this rate

$10 billion legal fund to build 30,000 new properties via ongoing funding

Housing Australia Future Fund (2023)

Criticism of Housing Australia Future Fund for being too ambitious

Government unaware of size of social housing spend, with some projects set to take years (ABC, 2024)

Origins of state sovereignty

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Ability to overrule state sovereignty in the case of widespread human rights violation

Chapter VII powers UN Security Council

Genocide that killed over 800,000 minority Tutsis, took media control, and showcased the failure of the UN as peacekeeping forces on the ground did nothing

Rwanda Genocide 1994

Secretary General who called for a need for humanitarian intervention even if it was against state sovereignty

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Allegedly effective use of R2P that proved ineffective later

Libya (2011)

Quote about the necessity for the Responsibility to Protect, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Australia

Gareth Evans - “Mass atrocities cannot be universally ignored and sovereignty is not a license to kill”

Percentage of the world’s nuclear capabilities made up by Russia and the US

90%

Bilateral treaty signed by Russia and US to control nuclear armament

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), with NEWSTART including the right to inspect other countries nuclear arms

Treaty stating only Russia, US, China, UK, and France could have nuclear arms. India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel never signed on and so gained nuclear arms

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)

What provides the UN the capacity to play a disarmament role?

Article 47 of the Charter provides UNSC with a disarmament role

Case testing the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty that was thrown out due to insufficient mediation attempts

Marshall Islands against India, Pakistan, and Britain

Non legal coalition of organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the UN Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty (2017)

ICAN, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Which act grants NSW police preventative detention powers are a means of preventing a terrorist attack (charge 16+ for up to 14 days no charge)

Terrorism (Police Powers) Act 2002 (NSW)

Curtis Cheng Case (2015)

Mr Cheng was shot dead outside Parramatta Police headquarters by a 15-year-old, sparking law reform allowing police to detain anyone aged over 14 to prevent terrorist acts.

Mr Bubbles (1989)

“Mr Bubbles” was charged with child abduction and SA of children aged 3-5. Evidence gathered through interviews with children, who were questioned without proper protocols or support leading to the case being dismissed and evidence labelled inadmissible. Triggered major reforms in interview protocol and evidence collection

Legislation reformed after Mr Bubbles (1989) introducing Join Investigation Response Team (JIRT), mandatory video recording of child interviews, and specially trained child interview specialists

Evidence (Children) Act 1997

Outlines rules and procedures for juries

Jury Act 1977 (NSW)

Human rights treaty to which Australia is a party, outlines all rights of children

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC)

Establishes Doli Incapax

Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW)

Outlines rules and procedures for young offenders

Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW)

Rape case which involved jury misconduct as members of the jury took it upon themselves to go to one of the scenes of the crime

R v Skaf

Search and Seizure Data (SMH)

Police found nothing in 88% of the 211,000 searches conducted under a quote-based system in 2018

Punishment and deterrence data

60% of people sentenced to prison have previously been in prison

Media article displaying the age of criminal responsibility in Australia has been criticized for being too low, failing to protect young offenders who cannot form mens rea.

Australia urged by 31 countries at UN meeting to raise age of criminal responsibility (ABC)

Ability for UN to enforce laws under UN charter

International law says that Putin's war against Ukraine is illegal. Does that matter? (The Conversation)

Landmark high court case in which Australia saw the 1st criminal conviction for slavery

R v Wei Tang (2009)

British legislation abolishing slavery in the colonies

Emancipation Act 1833

Established the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal

Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW)

Non-legal ngo which offers advocacy for people experiencing homelessness

Homelessness Australia

Survey showing the poor personal and social skills or difficulties in school and employment faced by young people involved in crime

Young People in Custody Health Survey by NSW Youth Justice

Case where a 10-year-old was acquitted for manslaughter of a 6-year-old after the child drowned. The case was brought to the senior children’s magistrate where it was dismissed, but the DPP had the case brought to the Supreme Court (The youngest ever to be seen by the supreme court and be charged with manslaughter)

R v LMW (1999) NSWSC 1343

Independent organisation that reports to the NSW parliament and monitors trends in young offender rates

NSW Commission for Children and Young People

Operation where authorities in 32 countries across multiple continents worked together to target human trafficking and migrant smuggling networks (200 arrests, led by INTERPOL)

Operation Turquesa II