National Human Rights Conference

A national human rights conference in Melbourne in February called “From Rhetoric to Reality” will provide an opportunity to engage with the practice of human rights in our own communities.

Over two days, service providers, educators, advocates and service users will come together in workshops, facilitated discussions and plenary sessions. The conference will build the capacity of participants to make human rights work in their everyday practice.

Several international and local keynote speakers will provide an overview of human rights concepts and mechanisms, including the United Nations Treaty System, human rights in the Australian context, and human rights in the context of service delivery.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Paul Hunt, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health; Marcia Rioux, Director of Disability Promotion Rights International and Professor of Health Policy at York University, Canada; and Jim Ife, Chair of the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University of Technology.

Organisational case studies will focus on the ways that community groups and governments have put human rights into practice in their organisational development, funding processes, policy advocacy and service delivery.

Personal testimonies will highlight the ways that people in our community defend and promote their human rights, making the link between international human rights frameworks and domestic experiences.

Small group workshops will provide all conference participants with the opportunity to develop strategies to apply human rights to their own organisational development, policy advocacy and service delivery work.

Organisers says a limited number of fully subsidised conference places are available.

Subsidised registration will apply to the full two-day conference only. Priority will be given to individuals associated with advocacy or service provision organisations that have 5 equivalent full-time staff or less, and are working in one of the following key sectors:
– Disability
– Indigenous
– Migrant / NESB
– Health / Mental Health
– Rural

Contact the RMIT Community Advocacy Unit on 03 9925 2910 or at advocacy@rmit.edu.auto have a copy of the registration form mailed or faxed to you.