High Court Judge addresses a packed audience at UOW
Oct 19, 2004
Justice of the High Court of Australia, Michael Kirby, AC CMG, visited the University of Wollongong yesterday (Monday October 18) to present a joint lecture with the United Nations Society entitled, 'The United Nations and International Human Rights - Still Relevant'. He spoke to a large crowd of United Nations Society members and Law students, referring to UOW as a "fantastic university of very high standards". His lecture was part of an ongoing Legal Intersections Research Centre seminar series. Justice Kirby served as the first Chairperson of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 1975 and has served as Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. He has held numerous national and international positions including President of the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands, President of the International Commissions of Jurists and has been a member of the Board of CSIRO. In the 1990s Justice Kirby served as a special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia. He is currently a member of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO, the Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organisation, and the Global Panel on Human Rights of UNAIDS (the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS). Justice Kirby delivered an inspiring presentation, discussing his work in the 'engine room' of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia, and stressing the importance of governance and cultural sensitivity. "In Cambodia, human rights is not a police station or a court house - it's stopping the landmines, educating young girls and providing emergency healthcare," he said. The High Court Justice also spoke passionately about his work with UNAIDS. "We've reached a critical moment in the AIDS epidemic. Technological advances are helping to improve the quality of life for millions of sufferers - but the problem is delivering this technology to developing nations," he said. "So many sufferers won't come forward because of the stigmas attached with the virus and how it is contracted." Justice Kirby will depart for Paris next week to work on a new international declaration on bioethics. "We have different countries, different religions and different philosophies. But we have enough in common as a species to be able to formulate general, common principles that still respect diversity," he said. And what does Justice Kirby do for 'time out' from this busy, international legal and political schedule? "I'm listening to Bach," he replied. "It's mathematical, logical and repetitive, but at the same time it's pristine and surprising - truly beautiful music." His parting message for his audience of students was simple - "Continue to be positive because, if you are negative, you can't change the world". -RP
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