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2003 Human Rights Medal & Awards Winners

The winners of the Human Rights Medal and Awards were announced at a gala luncheon in Sydney to celebrate International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2003. .

A diverse range of individuals and organisations entered the awards this year which covered issues such as: refugees and asylum seekers, the rights of Indigenous people, trafficking of women, people with disabilities and equal opportunity for various ethnic community groups.

Refugee and asylum seeker advocate Marion Lę won the prestigious Human Rights Medal for her consistent and effective work in promoting human rights over the last three decades.

The independent panel of judges said they were encouraged by the energy, drive and commitment to human rights that was shown by all the nominees, but wanted to particularly acknowledge Margaret Reynolds for her tireless work in campaigning for human rights issues at a domestic and international level over many years, and Jeremy Jones, who has played a leading role in developing interfaith and inter-ethnic collaboration against racism.

The Law category was won by Supreme Court of South Australia Senior Judge, Justice Mullighan. The judges highly commended The Centre for Advocacy Support and Education for Refugees (CASE), Erskine Rodan and Simone Bingham.

Asylum seeker aid, health and advocacy organisation, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) won the Community Award, with SANE Australia highly commended.

David Marr and Marian Wilkinson's Dark Victory won the award for Arts Non-Fiction for their compelling book on the Tampa crisis and the 'children overboard' affair. Judges highly commended Dancing with strangers by Inga Clendinnen and Recovered, not cured: A journey through schizophrenia by Richard McLean.

ABC Radio National's Lea Redfern and Phillip Ulman won the Radio Award with a piece titled The place you cannot imagine: a family and detention in Australia. The judges highly commended Our Place: Telephones in Remote Communities by Adrian Shaw and Leesa Satour.

Stand out winner of the Print Media Award was a series of articles on the sex trafficking trade in Australia by Natalie O'Brien and Elizabeth Wynhausen from The Australian newspaper. Russell Skelton from The Age was highly commended for his article I hate Australia, I am not a criminal, I have done nothing wrong. ABC TV's Four Corners program scooped the pool in the Television category, winning with About Woomera by Debbie Whitmont and Jo Puccini, and being highly commended for The Homies by Quentin McDermott, Morag Ramsey and Sandra Harvey. internet

For more information : Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission