Co-Chair ALHR National Refugee Rights Subcommittee

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) is seeking expressions of interest from experienced lawyers to Co-Chair our National Refugee Rights Subcommittee.

Given the egregious nature of human rights violations in relation to people seeking asylum in Australia, this area is a critical focus of ALHR’s work. Over the past four years the National Refugee Rights Subcommittee has drafted numerous submissions to national and international bodies, appeared before inquiries, issued press releases and made statements to the media, written letters to ministers and other parliamentarians, and hosted numerous successful and informative events.

The Co-Chair will be responsible for leading ALHR’s work in the refugee rights space at a national and international level.

The successful applicant will partner with existing Co-Chair Khanh Hoang. Khanh is an Associate Lecturer in the Migration Law Program at the Australian National University (ANU), and is currently undertaking PhD studies at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.

The successful applicant will be a lawyer who is passionate about refugee rights and has significant knowledge, experience and expertise in the area. The purposes of this role are to facilitate research, coordinate submissions and comprehensive advocacy on business and human rights, and to present them to key legal and political figures in order to keep the thematic area at the forefront of public discussion. ALHR Co-Chairs are supported and guided by ALHR’s National Committee and Executive Management Committee.

The ALHR Refugee Rights Subcommittee has attracted a strong membership base, comprising over 70 lawyers, academics and law students, in Australia and beyond, with a keen interest in refugee rights issues.

ALHR was established in 1993 and is a national association of Australian solicitors, barristers, academics, judicial officers and law students who practise and promote international human rights law in Australia. ALHR has active and engaged National, State and Territory committees and a secretariat at La Trobe University Law School in Melbourne. Through advocacy, media engagement, education, networking, research and training, ALHR promotes, practices and protects universally accepted standards of human rights throughout Australia and overseas.

ALHR utilises thematic subcommittees to increase the impact of our advocacy and has adopted a co-chair management structure within them. ALHR currently has a total of 8 subcommittees, including:
• Refugee Rights Subcommittee
• Disability Rights Subcommittee
• Freedoms Subcommittee
• Human Rights Act(s) Subcommittee
• Indigenous Rights Subcommittee
• Business and Human Rights Subcommittee
• LGBTI Rights Subcommittee
• Women and Girls’ Rights Subcommittee

A focus on thematic human rights areas has engaged our members allowing them to concentrate on particular human rights issues and enabling ALHR to deliver a key promise to our paid membership by offering them a voice on human rights and law reform in Australia. This thematic focus also serves to increase the impact of our strategic advocacy and enables ALHR to efficiently target areas of critical focus for Australian human rights practice.

If you would like to formally nominate for this role, please send an expression of interest and copy of your CV to vicepresident@alhr.org.au Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the role.