Human Rights | ANZSIL Perspective

Stretching Self-Defence, Discarding Immunity: The Maduro Capture and the Future of International Law

by Amit Kumar and Abhishek Kumar | 6 Feb 2026

The submission argues that the US capture of Venezuela’s sitting president cannot be legally justified under Article 51, as drug trafficking and alleged narco-terrorism do not meet the threshold of an “armed attack,” nor were the requirements of necessity, proportionality, or Security Council reporting satisfied. It further contends that the operation violated the prohibition on the use of force, the principle of non-intervention, and Venezuela’s sovereignty, amounting in effect to unlawful regime change. The arrest of Nicolás Maduro is also said to breach customary international law on head-of-state immunity, which applies irrespective of political recognition so long as effective control exists. Overall, the episode is framed as a dangerous precedent that stretches self-defence doctrine and undermines the credibility of the international legal order by privileging power over law.

From Ceasefire to Silence: The Looming Massacre in Iran’s Prisons and the Duty to Prevent

by Maryam Fakhar | 28 Aug 2025

In the aftermath of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel and under the cover of a fragile ceasefire, Iran’s authorities have launched a new campaign of domestic repression reminiscent of their worst past atrocities. Last month, guards at Evin Prison in Tehran secretly loaded political prisoners onto 20 buses and forcibly transferred them to notorious sites of abuse and neglect, such as Qarchak and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, and some were even taken to unknown sites. These moves, alongside reports of torture, death sentences, solitary confinement, and enforced disappearances, and the alarming rise of executions point to a deliberate escalation that could constitute crimes against...

Due Diligence in Modern Slavery Investigations: Lessons from the Uyghur Congress Case for Australia

by Ruby Evans and Felicity Gerry KC | 28 Aug 2025

Introduction Modern slavery encompasses a broad range of ownership and exploitative conduct, including forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, and other forms of coercive or deceptive control over individuals. Such conduct continues to persist across industries, often hidden within the complex layers of global commerce and trade. Whilst modern slavery sits across the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which emphasise the human rights responsibilities of businesses there is much to do to actively prevent and mitigate the risks of modern slavery within supply chains. In Australia, in addition to section 270 and 271 the Criminal Code (Cth) which criminalise a range of...

Can international human rights perspectives help Queenslanders to resolve harm from noxious odours caused by waste disposal?

by Nicky Jones | 13 May 2025

Introduction This Perspective addresses the question of whether noxious odours or pollution in the community that harm an individual’s health or cause environmental harm may also engage international human rights law. In other words, can bad smells amount to a violation of a person’s human rights in certain circumstances? This submission also discusses international human rights protections and provisions of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) to identify whether international human rights law is available to guide interpretations of human rights law in Queensland. Noxious odours in Ipswich, Queensland These questions are not merely hypothetical for some Queenslanders. These issues have...

Authors’ Rights as Human Rights

by Graeme Austin and Jane C Ginsburg | 21 Dec 2022

A September 2022 decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Safarov v Azerbaijan, reminds us that failing to protect authors’ rights is not just an economic issue. It can be a breach of human rights. The ECtHR case is not an isolated instance. A jurisprudence on the human rights of authors is emerging in an array of different contexts. It offers new ways of thinking about domestic policy debates about the rights of authors and states’ obligations to protect them. The ECtHR decision concerned a book that an NGO posted online without the author’s consent. In line with its earlier decisions, the ECtHR confirmed that the protection of “possessions” in the...

Terror in the time of Polio and COVID-19: The intersection of violence and contagion in Afghanistan

by Azadah Raz Mohammad, Andrea Olivares Jones and Karin Frodé | 19 Jul 2022

Badakhshan, Afghanistan (Unsplash - Joel Heard) In the first months of the Taliban’s violent takeover of Afghanistan last year, media reported widely on the chaotic withdrawal of US and allied forces, and the rapid escalation of the Taliban’s violence. The Taliban has targeted those who worked with US, NATO and Australian forces, women and girls, human rights defenders, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, and ethnic Hazaras, among others. Media attention on Afghanistan has since waned. This is despite the resulting humanitarian crisis which the UNDP has estimated could have now resulted in as much as 97% of the population living below the poverty line. Of particular concern and the...

Trust in Translation: Diplomatic Assurances, the New Zealand Supreme Court, and Extradition to China

by Neil Boister | 8 Jun 2022

In 1606 in the République, Jean Bodin argued that it was wrong to render up the guiltless to a sovereign who wished to punish them, but right to render up the guilty. Today guilt alone is insufficient for extradition. The 1989 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Soering v UK set a precedent which forced the courts in States committed to human rights to enquire into the potential for a human rights breach in a State requesting extradition. The various human rights covenants generate a clear obligation of non-refoulement where potential breach of human rights obligations may occur. Subsequent domestic legislation and judicial decisions has, however, eroded that obligation of...