Tag: Sex-Based Rights
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Sex-Based Violence Against Women and Girls and the Limits of Consent (A/HRC/59/47 and A/HRC/59/47/Add.4): Analysis of the UN Reports by Reem Alsalem
In June 2025, Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, presented a thematic report to the Human Rights Council: A/HRC/59/47, Sex-based violence against women and girls: new frontiers and emerging issues. The report examines forms of violence against women and girls that are based on…
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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis
“Children’s rights” and “the best interests of the child” are constantly invoked in Australian debates about medical treatment of minors, parental authority, identity, adoption and surrogacy. They are less often read. The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not supply simple answers to these questions. It supplies a framework that has to be…
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Women’s Prisons Were Built for a Sex Class. Who Enters Them Is Now a State Policy Choice.
Australia has no Commonwealth statute that says who may be housed in a women’s prison. That is how the country is built. States and territories run adult corrections. Section 120 of the Constitution requires each state to hold people convicted of Commonwealth offences in its prisons. There is no separate federal civilian prison system. A…
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Violence Against Women and Girls in the Context of Surrogacy (A/80/158): Analysis of the UN Report by Reem Alsalem
Introduction In July 2025, UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem issued her thematic report The different manifestations of violence against women and girls in the context of surrogacy (A/80/158). She presented the report to the UN General Assembly Third Committee on 10 October 2025. The report does not treat surrogacy primarily as a family-building service in…
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Surrogacy in Australia: If It Requires So Many Safeguards, Should We Be Regulating It or Ending It?
Surrogacy is legal in every Australian state and territory, yet Australia has no single national surrogacy law. Instead, it is regulated primarily through separate state and territory legislation. There is one broad point of agreement: commercial surrogacy is prohibited across Australia, while altruistic surrogacy is permitted. In an altruistic arrangement, a surrogate may have certain…
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Violence against Mothers (A/HRC/62/49): Analysis of the UN Report by Reem Alsalem
“A mother is a school. When society invests in it and supports mothers, it builds a nation of noble character.”— Hafez Ibrahim (Egyptian poet) Introduction In June 2026, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, presented her thematic report Violence against Mothers (A/HRC/62/49) to the Human Rights Council. This…
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‘It Was a Different Time’: The 2013 Sex Discrimination Act Amendments
During a recent question-and-answer session at Manchester University, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was asked about her government’s 2013 amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act. Those amendments removed the Act’s biological definitions of “man” and “woman” and added “gender identity” as a protected attribute. Gillard responded that the issues now being debated were not…
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Pauline Hanson Addresses Gender Identity Policies at National Press Club
During her recent address to the National Press Club, Senator Pauline Hanson raised a range of national issues, including migration, housing, energy policy and government administration. A significant portion of her speech focused on gender identity policies and their impact on women’s rights, single-sex spaces and public institutions. Hanson argued that gender identity ideology has…