http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/claire-mallinson/ Claire Mallinson joined Amnesty International Australia as National Director in October 2007 with more than 20 years of experience in rights-based work and the not for profit sector. Claire began her work in the sector at the UK’s biggest not for profit disability organisation, Scope. She left Scope to become the youngest Director of a UK top five charity, the Cancer Research Campaign. Claire was then headhunted by Greenpeace Australia Pacific and moved to Sydney to take up the role of Director of Fundraising and Marketing before joining Amnesty International Australia. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/eurovision-cant-drown-out-the-human-rights-abuses/ Last year, thousands of Azerbaijanis spontaneously took to the streets of Baku shouting and chanting. None of the demonstrators were arrested. They were celebrating Azerbaijan’s triumph in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. Only a few weeks earlier, you would have witnessed an entirely different spectacle – partly fascinating, mostly disturbing, entirely incomprehensible. The Azerbaijani government’s response to demonstrations they don’t agree with. Teenage girls shouting “freedom!” chased and knocked to the ground by police, manhandled onto buses and driven to the outskirts of town. Elderly men shouting “resign” muffled and gagged. Younger ones punched, kicked and dragged into the back of police vans; facing the prospect of days, months or even years in an Azerbaijani prison cell. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Claire Mallinson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/eurovision-cant-drown-out-the-human-rights-abuses/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/eurovision-cant-drown-out-the-human-rights-abuses/#item8594 Fri, 25 May 2012 03:30:15 +0000 Claire Mallinson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/ This week’s Q and A program featured Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, who has been an instrumental figure in drawing attention to the federal and Northern Territory Governments policies which are effectively stripping traditional Indigenous communities - ‘homelands’ - of funds. Aboriginal peoples’ rights to traditional lands, culture, informed consent and adequate housing are being undermined. Last week, Salil Shetty, the Secretary General of Amnesty International and I had the honour and privilege of spending time with Rosalie and the people of the Utopia Homelands on a fact finding mission. This was the first time I had travelled to Utopia in two years. I was struck by the fact that very little had changed. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Claire Mallinson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/utopia-and-a-third-world-in-the-first-world/#item6953 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:30:18 +0000 Claire Mallinson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/human-rights-at-home-and-away/ Human rights abuses happen everywhere, including Australia. Amnesty International has today released a report on human rights, which is critical of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and Aboriginal people. Claire Mallinson discusses the report’s findings and takes a look at the effect of digital media on the fight for human rights. When Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released after 15 years under house arrest late last year, one of the first things she commented on was how she had missed the digital revolution. That may be so, but the digital revolution did not miss her. When she stepped out on to the balcony of her home she was greeted by a sea of supporters, mobiles phones held aloft and eager thumbs pressing buttons. Within seconds her picture could be seen on web sites, the internet and 24-hour news channels around the world. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Claire Mallinson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/human-rights-at-home-and-away/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/human-rights-at-home-and-away/#item5826 Thu, 12 May 2011 19:51:44 +0000 Claire Mallinson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Amnesty-international-australia-cannot-claim-leadership-on-regional-rights/ Each year Amnesty International releases an assessment of the human rights realities in the majority of countries around the world, and each year it is a sobering reminder of how governments are failing to deliver on their human rights promises. Our 2010 report shows that torture or other ill-treatment were practised last year in at least 111 countries, there were unfair trials in at least 55 countries, restrictions on free speech in at least 96 countries and prisoners of conscience imprisoned in at least 48 countries. 18 countries executed their own citizens. And the list goes on. The achievement of universal human rights relies on the world’s governments being held accountable for their actions. It relies on the international community enforcing international law and seeking justice for the victims of human rights violations.  All too often, however, powerful governments stand above the law on human rights and act only when it is politically expedient.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Claire Mallinson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Amnesty-international-australia-cannot-claim-leadership-on-regional-rights/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Amnesty-international-australia-cannot-claim-leadership-on-regional-rights/#item3182 Thu, 27 May 2010 19:45:21 +0000 Claire Mallinson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/all-sides-of-politics-ignore-facts-of-asylum-seeker-arrivals/ Amnesty International flatly rejects the assertion that recent changes to Government policy have led to an increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat. Despite much sensationalist reporting on the issue of boat arrivals, the fact remains that only a tiny percentage of the millions of people seeking asylum choose to seek that protection on Australia’s shores. Statistics published in June by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international body responsible for addressing refugee issues worldwide, show that at the end of 2008 there were 827,323 pending asylum seeker cases worldwide. Australia was handling 2159 of these – which is substantially less than one per cent. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Claire Mallinson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/all-sides-of-politics-ignore-facts-of-asylum-seeker-arrivals/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/all-sides-of-politics-ignore-facts-of-asylum-seeker-arrivals/#item1471 Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:55:42 +0000 Claire Mallinson | Author bios | The Punch