Australian Human Rights Awards 2016

The Human Rights Awards is the pinnacle of human rights recognition in Australia. 2016 is the 30th anniversary since the establishment of the Australian Human Rights Commission, provided an excellent opportunity to celebrate the significant milestones in human rights advancements made over the past 30 years. The Awards ceremony was held in Sydney on Friday 9 December.

Several people with disability and organisations serving them won awards and were finalists. The full list of award winners is here:

Community Organisations Award - Bus Stop Films. For approximately 8 years, Bus Stop Films has provided film studies and film-making opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as advocating for inclusion in the film industry.

• Bus Stop Films takes out Human Rights Award, Inside Film, 14 December 2016

Business Award: Joint winners - Lendlease, Westpac, and the Australian Network on Disability,  a collaboration that led to the Design for Dignity guidelines which incorporate accessibility and were implemented at Barangaroo Tower Two.

Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award, for an individual with a proven track record in promoting and advancing human rights in the Australian community - Jane Rosengrave, a proud Yorta Yorta woman with intellectual disability and a passionate advocate for people with disability. She has worked in Disability Support for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, speaking up at the Royal Commission. Jane recently appeared on Lateline (ABC TV).

NSW Council on Intellectual Disability posted a photo of Jane with her award today, commenting:

With this year’s Human Rights Day theme of “stand up for someone’s rights today” we couldn’t think of anyone more deserving to win the 2016 Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award as Jane Rosengrave! 

Jane has raised awareness of the abuse and discrimination people with disability face by sharing her own story and we say a big congratulations to Jane for winning this award and for her dedication to human rights at the community level!

Catia Malaquias, a disability advocate, lawyer, mum of three and a director of Down Syndrome Australia and the Attitude Foundation was a finalist for the Tony Fitzgerald award. She founded the Starting with Julius project which aims to transform cultural attitudes towards people with disability, by promoting disability inclusion in mainstream media, advertising and education.

10th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations General Assembly

Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations General Assembly. The ground-breaking convention set basic norms, frameworks for measuring progress, and reporting requirements for the political, social, and economic inclusion of the 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide — and has now been ratified by 170 countries. 

The past decade has seen real achievements in disability inclusion, with the incorporation of disability rights into the Sustainable Development Goals and other international accords, the creation of national action plans for disability inclusion, the adoption of dedicated funding streams by numerous donors, and a heightened awareness of the importance of disability inclusion ... Devex, 9 December 2016

• Celebrating 10 Years of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – CRPD10