The International Stage: Australian women lawyers as active citizens
Rosemary Kayess was involved in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and began a five-year term working at the Australian Human Rights Commission as the Disability Discrimination Commissioner in January 2024.
Megan Davis was involved in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and has worked on indigenous rights in Australia in various contexts, including constitutional change.
Jane Connors assisted in the drafting of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and has worked internationally in human rights.
Erika Feller worked in the UN as Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, which was responsible for the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Catherine Branson and Gillian Triggs each had many roles that linked to Human Rights work, and both were, at different times, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission which is a key body that implements international law commitments through Australian laws.
Liz Broderick was a Sex Discrimination Commissioner, a role set up under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 which implements the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Australia.
Human rights treaties
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on 10 December 1948 sets out the basic rights and freedoms that apply to all people.
Drafted in the aftermath of World War Two, it has become a foundation document that has inspired many legally binding international human rights laws.
The Australian Government has agreed to uphold and respect many of these human rights treaties including the:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Australian Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory organisation, established by an act of Federal Parliament which administers legislation that implements some of those treaties.
The rights the Commission protects and promotes are specific rights, that flow from these international treaties.
Learning activity
Using the links above, explore each of these women’s lives.
- How did/do their professional lives operate in a domestic Australian context and how much of their professional life operates in an international context?
- Explain the relationship between the two.
- In your own life, how much do you feel a citizen of Australia, or a citizen of another country, and/or a citizen of the world?