Leading Australians recognised in Australia’s annual Human Rights Awards

Ron Merkel QC from Victoria has been announced as the winner of the 2011 Human Rights Medal at the Australian Human Rights Commission’s annual Human Rights Awards in Sydney today.

Nineteen year old Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy from Berkeley in NSW has been announced as the winner of the Young People’s Human Rights Medal.

For 40 years, Ron Merkel has devoted himself to access to justice for people who are marginalised and disadvantaged. He has had a long and outstanding commitment to the promotion and advancement of human rights as a legal practitioner.

Ron Merkel takes on cases that many others would avoid and his advocacy spreads far and wide including defending the rights of prisoners to vote in elections and protecting the rights of Indigenous Australians not to be racially discriminated against.

In addition to his extensive human rights advocacy, Ron has occupied a number of important positions, including Founding Trustee of the Koori Aboriginal Heritage Trust and President of the Victorian and Australian Councils of Civil Liberties.

Tshibanda Gracia strives to better the lives of people around her and, in particular, youth from refugee backgrounds. She is a caseworker for refugee families, a radio co-host, a tutor for international students, a youth motivational speaker, and a member of the Illawarra Regional Advisory Council (IRAC), NSW Multicultural Youth Network (MYN), the Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families (SCARF). Tshibanda is also active with the Uganda-based Voice of Hope International Ministries, advocating for those who have been silenced by poverty and injustice.

A major new Commission initiative to build understanding and respect for human rights in Australia was also announced at the Human Rights Awards event.

Something In Common is an online initiative which aims for greater community engagement with human rights issues. In order to respond to the desire for human rights facts, Something In Common also has a microsite – Tell Me Something I Don’t Know.gov.au. This site presents a series of human rights facts that are arresting and sometimes shocking. In addition, there are a number of engagement features where users have the opportunity to not only add their own stories to the site, but contribute to Australian film reviews that deal with human rights issues, respond to polls and commit to taking a number of online and offline actions.

Something In Common seeks to build on these ideas to enable us to speak about human rights in ways that will inspire people to promote, defend and apply human rights in their daily lives through social media.

To view promotional video click here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR1U_4zkB_Y