Forum to mark the 60th Anniversary of
The Universal Declararation of Human Rights in 1948.
Amnesty International in conjunction with the University of the Third Age(U3A) organized a forum to discuss all aspects of Human Rights. The speakers included Katie Wood and Peter Stamford from Amnesty, Rev. Elenie Poulos, Director of Uniting Justice (*the human rights organization of the Uniting Church) and Dr. Ed. Santow from the
University of NSW Law School. The venue was at the St.Ives Uniting Church.
The forum was hailed as a success by all those who attended. Here follows a comment made by Ruth Rudkin:-
"To aid the discussion a double sided sheet listing 30 Articles was passed out, setting out suggestions for guidelines, loosely based on the Declaration. Questions and contributions from the audience were welcomed. It was pointed out that as well as Rights we all have obligations. There was some discussion on such a law. After all laws can be changed and what was initially lawful could become illegal as happened even in Australia once or twice in the nineteen thirties.
Australia has only two States that have such a Declaration although most other nations do. The mood at the meeting seemed to support the suggestion that Australia should should support such a Declaration, with a Bill of Rights."
Ruth Rudkin.
We are fortunate to have a summary of the lecture provided by Dr Ed Santow
