Pandora's Box 2001 International Human Rights Editors Nicky Jones Sarah McCosker Tiffany Stephenson Pandora's Box 2001 © 2001 Published by: The Women And The Law (WATL) Society T C Beirne School of Law The University of Queensland St Lucia Qld. 4072 Australia. Ph. ( + 61 7) 3365 7997 Printed by: Willprint Pty Ltd 28 Burke Street Woolloongabba Qld. 4102 Australia. Ph. (+ 61 7) 3391 8900 will ii Table of Contents Editors' Note iv Foreword Ms Cheryl Kernot, MP v The Myth of Pandora's Box Dr Suzanne Dixon 1 Improving the Relationship Between Policing and Women in the Community Sergeant Maree Foelz 2 Women and Legal Aid Ms Vivienne Wynter 6 Women and Justice - Is There Justice for Women? Justice Roslyn Atkinson 10 th Bridges and Strategies Spanning the 20 and 2151 Centuries A Personal View Justice Margaret McMurdo 21 Corporate Accountability: Corporate Code of Conduct Bill 2000 Senator Vicki Bourne 26 Does Australia Protect Human Rights? Prof. Margaret Reynolds 34 Australia and the International Human Rights System Prof. Hilary Charlesworth 39 The Teoh Bill and International Human Rights Senator Vicki Bourne 46 The Silences of Human Rights Prof. Hilary Charlesworth 53 Terrorism in New York Ms Katarina Mansson 65 HIVI AIDS and International Law: the UN Special Session on HIVI AIDS High Commissioner-designate Penny Wensley 69 Diversity, Strength and Desolation Ms Jessie Wells 80 A Tribute to Aung San Suu K yi Ms Louise Paw 90 W ATL Student 2001 Pakistani Women and the Quest for the Promised Land Mr Hamid Mirza 94 Abstracts of papers submitted to the Student Paper Competition 102 Editors' Note We are thrilled and proud to present Pandora's Box 2001. This year Pandora's Box extends its horizons to have a transnational focus: international human rights. We worked hard to obtain contributions covering a wide variety of topics but found that there was no shortage of ideas or excellent contributors. Human rights issues, particularly those relating to women, transcend borders and are of universal and international concern. Pandora's Box 2001 draws together contributions from women in diverse sectors of society, including the judiciary, the diplomatic corps, the police service, academia, non­ governmental organisations and politics. The journal provides a forum for women's reflections on a range of local and national issues: women and policing in our community, legal aid, justice for women in Australia, and even some nostalgic reminiscences of UQ law studies long past, making us thank our lucky stars for the determined and courageous women who have blazed trails for us here today. We consider Australia's international human rights obligations: the responsibilities of our companies overseas, our treatment of vulnerable groups in the community such as Australia's Indigenous peoples, and our relations with international organisations and the human rights treaty body system. The articles pose the question: "Does Australia protect human rights?" before attempting to answer it. Pandora's has also turned her gaze overseas, towards New York, Burma, Pakistan and other countries, where many women are battling incredible obstacles with great courage to make a life and a future for themselves, their sisters, their daughters and their families, sometimes just to survive. These articles consider our relationships with women overseas and the interconnectedness of national and international issues affecting women. We have included the winning entry from the WATL Student Paper competition, as well as abstracts from the other entries - congratulations to the winner and to all the entrants for your interesting ideas! Many thanks to the Executive of WATL, particularly our endlessly hardworking and helpful President Zenovia Pappas, for all their support. Finally, we must warmly thank the people who gave their time, their wisdom and their words to us to store in We hope that the contributions will Pandora's Box 2001. stimulate discussion and provoke thought and, most of all, we hope that you enjoy them! Editors Pandora's Box 2001 Nicky Jones Sarah McCosker Tiffany Stephenson iv Foreword Ms Cheryl Kernot was the keynote speaker at the Professional Women's Legal Breakfast at which was launched. Ms Kernot is the Pandora's Box 2001 Member for the federal seat of Dickson and Shadow Minister for Employment Training. & Thank you to the organisers and the members of the Women And The Law Society for inviting me to participate in the Breakfast and in Pandora 's Box 2001. We find ourselves meeting this year in very challenging circumstances enveloped by uncertainty. This is a time to draw strength from the commonsense and resilience of women everywhere; a strength and support which has always sustained me in difficult times. Although I am not directly involved in the legal profession, the law and human rights issues touch all our lives, and this is brought home so well by the articles in Pandora's Box. I congratulate the editors of Pandora's Box for a very timely collection of articles and their contribution to our collective voice. As in previous publications, the excellence lies in the treatment of such poignant subjects and in the humour appearing in a number of the articles. It is always encouraging to see women in the community raising the significant issues, and Pandora's Box is a worthy leader. I join with others from previous years to congratulate the editors in providing another year of worthwhile articles! It is an honour to be part of such a publication for women. Cheryl Kernot, MP. v vi The Myth of Pandora�s Box Dr Suzanne Dixon is a Reader in Classics Ancient History at the School of & History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland. The Judaeo Christian tradition has Eve; the Graeco Roman tradition has Pandora. Each culture can comfortably blame women forits misfortunes. "Pan­ dora", "all gift", was endowed with a gift (beauty, charm, skill in working wool) by each of the gods of Mount Olympus. But Zeus, king of the gods, had commanded her creation for the specific purpose of punishing mankind for the theft of fire from his heavenly domain. Beneath her beautiful, virginal surface Pandora was the means of bringing misery to men. Moved (like Eve) by a lethal curiosity, she opened the forbidden box and released the evils which men had never known in their earlier state: diseases, manual labour and unnamed miseries. But she put the lid on the chest before Hope could escape. So humans still have Hope. Just as well. In today's economic climate, young women taking up the law must have it: hope in the future, in their own abilities and stamina, in the system of justice which our society has evolved in bits and pieces over the centuries. How apt that WATL has chosen to appropriate the Pandora myth and to see the opening of the box as a liberating, subversive and exciting act. Pandora's rehabilitation is long overdue. The seventh century BC Greek poet Hesiod portrayed her as a deceptive lure for men, the untrustworthy female principle. Shades of modern "men's rights" groups and the so called backlash. But when you look at Hesiod's account (Works and Days 42 105), you find that Pandora had quite a cluster of interesting qualities. In obedience to his father Zeus, Hermes, god of thieves and merchants, gave Pandora his particular gift: "lies, tricky speeches and a thieving heart". Hermes' varied job description included the role of herald, so he also blessed her with a strong voice. Many would argue that these gifts constitute a fitting combination for a promising barrister. It's all a matter of perspective. We don't regard curiosity as an evil these days indeed, an inquiring mind and a disregard for mindless prohibitions ("Don't, whatever you do, open that box, Pandora!") can open the way for great things. Do open that box, Pandora, never mind what the fusty old men tell you. The box might release all sorts of things which they regard as ills: Mabo, anti­ discrimination legislation, an end to the husband's "right to chastise" and the beginning of consumer rights. Go for it, Pandora. 1 IIlproving the Relationship Bet\Veen Policing and W oilen in the Coililunity = A Logan River Valley Perspective Sergeant Maree Foelz is a police officer with the Logan Police department working in District Crime Prevention Co-ordination and was a District Community Liaison Officer in 1999. Sergeant Foelz presented this paper at the Second Australasian Women and Policing Conference in 1999. We are members of the Police Services of Australia. We are members of the community. Most importantly, we are women, and as such, we have a unique opportunity to improve the relationship between police and women. However, this does not diminish the responsibility of our male counterparts in assisting us to provide a service which takes into account the needs and rights of women in our communities. As noted in the Women's Advisory Group Network Action Plan 1997 2000, one of the aims of policing in the community is to increase the involvement of women in all aspects of community policing. To this end, strategies which span the increase of selection and recruitment of female officers, the increased involvement of female police officers in the community, and ensuring involve ment of community women in policing activities, present enormous challenges to the service. Such as not minimising the complexities of increasing the number of women in the service, and the engagement of officers in the community. In this short presentation I have chosen to focus on the challenges of engaging community women in policing activities. Placing these challenges in context, I will first present an overview of the Logan Police District, its residents and the role of the District Community Liaison Officer.