The July 19 Edition

It was easy to miss, so little was it reported. In March, the United States was added to a global human rights watchlist over its fast-declining civil liberties under Donald Trump’s administration. The CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, an alliance of civil society groups that highlights the threats to civil liberties across the world, denounced Trump’s “assault on democratic norms and global co-operation”. Australia, too, copped a volley of criticism earlier this year for its “escalating crackdown on the right to protest”. Democracy and human rights are flip sides of the same coin: both need to be incredibly robust. In a world that’s increasingly resembling The Hunger Games, the role of our human rights institutions has never been more vital. Hugh de Kretser, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the subject of our cover story this week, has a tightrope to walk at a time of increasing social polarisation and acts of hate crime. If we’re to maintain harmony as a nation, respecting one another’s human rights is the absolute starting point. Greg Callaghan, acting editor.