Parliament is back today. The Parliamentary sitting calendar was updated last month to include additional sitting days for the Senate from 17 to 19 November. The House of Representatives will be hosting the President of China and the Prime Minister of India, and is not expected to conduct any other business. Of the bills that are up for debate in the Senate this week, those listed below are some of the ones that the PJCHR has flagged as raising human rights concerns. The brief highlights provided here are not a substitute for the PJCHR’s full analysis of the issues – so go read the reports.
See: Report 8/44th and Report 10/44th (pp 140-143)
PJCHR’s conclusion: Likely incompatibility with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
See: Report 7/44th
PJCHR’s conclusion: No human rights concerns on the assumption ‘that the policy of streamlining and reallocating of ANPHA’s activities will be effective’. But ‘any consequent reduction in effective preventive health activities could result in a limitation of the right to health’.
See: Report 9/44th and Report 11/44th (pp 13-30)
PJCHR’s conclusion: Incompatible with the right to an effective remedy, and the right to just and favourable conditions of work.
See: Report 7/44th and Report 10/44th (pp 140-143)
PJCHR’s conclusion: Possible incompatibilities with the right to freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain.
See: Report 12/44th (pp 8-13)
PJCHR’s view: More information required to determine compatibility with the right to education, the right to social security, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to privacy, and the right to equality and non-discrimination. It doesn’t appear that the Minister has responded as yet – or at least no response has been published to date.
HUMAN RIGHTS SCRUTINY BLOG 