Annual Human Rights Lectures
Each year, Armidale Sanctuary hosts an Annual Human Rights Lecture.
We are pleased to announce that our annual lecture will be hosted 30 May 2024 at The Armidale Playhouse at 6:00pm. The lecture titled Building Unity through Hope: Creating a more Compassionate Society. Our speaker is Elijah Buol OAM, CEO of Act for Peace. Act for Peace is an organisation, now in its 75th year, that works to empower people displaced by conflict and disasters across the globe. Elijah brings a deep understanding of the issues faced by people experiencing displacement. After losing his parents to conflict when he was a child, he spent many years in refugee camps before coming to Australia in 2002 as a humanitarian unaccompanied minor. He holds a Masters degree in Law and a Masters of Justice in Intelligence. He is completing his Doctor of Law at the Australian National University.
Previous guest speakers
Professor Rosalind Croucher, President of the Human Rights Commission, September 2023
Paul Power from the Refugee Council of Australia – October 2022
“Advancing a fairer Australia: The role of local communities in refugee policy reform”
Dr Diana Eades – October 2021
“At the very heart of human rights: How does the law listen to Aboriginal people?”
Bernard Collaery – October 2020
“Time for reform: Australia’s misdeeds in Timor Leste and secret trials in our democracy”
Gillian Triggs – March 2019
“Speaking up: Human Rights in Australia”
Dr Munjed Al Muderis – March 2018
“’Wheel of Fortune’ in which Dr Muderis reflected on his experience as a boat refugee and being in detention in Western Australia”
Dr David Manne – November 2016
“REFUGEES: Building a Better Future”
Matthew Cleary – March 2014
“Humanitarian Access and the Right to Healthcare”
Judi Moylan – July 2013
“Desperation, Displacement and Detention: Australia’s Treatment of Asylum Seekers Past and Present”
Allan Asher – March 2012
“Refugees: People Just Like Us”
David Marr – August 2011
“Australia and the boats ten years after The Tampa: how old fears still feed the politics of panic”
Michael Kirby – March 2010
“Human Rights in Australia. Lessons from Asia?”
Helen Caldicott – August 2008
“Ecological Refugees and the Human Response to Global Warming”
Dr Robin Jones – August 2007
“From Compassion to Empowerment – Challenges in South Sudan and Beyond”
Rev Tim Costello – September 2006
“The Ethical Journey from Sympathy to Solidarity”
Julian Burnside – September 2005
“History, Human Rights and Hubris”
Father Frank Brennan – July 2004
“Border Protection and Care for Refugees’”
In addition to these Lectures, in September 2004, Armidale Sanctuary sponsored the visit of Professor Margaret Reynolds, at that time President of the United Nations Association of Australia and our Patron. She gave two talks at the University of New England: ‘Australia’s Responsibilities in the Global Village – The Millenium Development Goals” at the Uniting Church and “The United Nations at 60…Priorities for Reform”.
