Register for this important event later this month! You will be joined by leading researchers, practitioners and advocates, on reproductive rights, the prevention of torture, the federal human rights framework, and climate activism. Hear from our inspiring speakers and ask questions during the audience Q&A following each presentation. Online and in person options available.

Obviously, my main interest is in the prevention of turture, and the federal human rights framework, as so many of the human rights oe people with dementia and older Australians receiving care are denied or violated.

Watching the segment on hotel detention of refugees and assylum seekers on a recent episode of The Drum on the ABC, infuriated me, as it reminded me the public and media interest in the torture of eveyone is high – that is, everyone except people with dementia who are segregated and locked inside secure wards, and also experience torture.

I’m not saying what happened to Mr. Moz Azimitabar and other people detained and tortured in hotels is not cruel, but the comparison of their experience with people with dementia and older Australian locked inside institutional care settings, is as multiple reports, formal enquiries and a Royal Commission have proven, exactly the same, perhaps even worse. I recall the Banking Royal Commission also seemed much more ‘exciting’ to the media, than the Royal Commission into Quality and Safety in Aged Care too. If you compare the number of articles and stories about both Royal Commissions, you will see there is a stark contrast in their interest

Ageism is alive and thriving in this country…

Oops, mini rant over… Here is the list of speakers for this event:

• Dr Alice Edwards, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Human Rights Council
• Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, President, Australian Human Rights Commission
• Professor Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
• Dr Alicia Ely Yamin, Lecturer on Law, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Harvard Law School, Harvard TH School of Public Health
• Emeritus Professor Angela Taft, Former Director, Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University
• Professor Danielle Mazza AM, Director, Sphere Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care, Monash University
• Associate Professor Ronli Sifris, Deputy Director (Education), Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Faculty of Law, Monash University
• Professor John Tobin, Francine V McNiff Professor in Human Rights Law, Melbourne Law School
• Kate Eastman AM SC, Barrister, New Chambers
• Associate Professor Jessie Hohmann, Researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney
• Associate Professor Julie Debeljak, Academic Member, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Faculty of Law, Monash University
• Professor Azadeh Dastyari, Founding Director, Network for Law and Human Rights, and School of Law, University of Western Sydney
• Violet Coco, Australian Climate Activist, Fireproof Australia and Extinction Rebellion
• Associate Professor Brendan Gogarty, Academic Member, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Download the Official Program here.

Register for the conference here.