Lex101 Law Reform Research Paper – 2000 Words (not including footnotes)
Choose a group of people (e.g. Indigenous Australians, Refugees, LGBTI individuals) and explain the ways in which the human rights of the vulnerable group are at risk, being threatened, or not protected in Australia.
? The group may be large or small. Be specific when you nominate an identifiable group e.g. refugees, intersex persons, transgender persons. You will be expected to make cohesive and clear arguments about the human rights situation of the vulnerable group. Although broad arguments could be made about human rights protections in Australia e.g. how freedom of speech is curtailed, for the purposes of this essay it is important to focus on a specific group (or persons) to ensure you can adequately discuss their situation in 2000 words.
? In some instances it might be appropriate to illustrate how the human rights of the vulnerable group who are affected by exploring the experiences of individual members of the group. For example, there was much public debate about the treatment of Ranjini, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker of Tamil origin who was held in immigration detention with her children for more than three years from 2012 – 2015 and deemed a security threat. If you choose to focus primarily on an individual, rather than a group, that individual will be known as ‘the vulnerable person.’
? In your essay you should identify the various international treaties that are relevant to the vulnerable groups human rights situation, include an assessment of the Australian political context, and a discussion of relevant existing national legislation. At the end of your paper you may make some recommendations about what could be done to enhance the protection of the vulnerable group’s human rights.
Research Tips:
? While you may refer to relevant literature in the prescribed readings for this course, you are encouraged to refer to further literature identified by your own research. You should cite academic literature (journal articles, books, government reports etc).
? You may cite media sources, especially when explaining the issue and your identification of the vulnerable group. Ideally you should not need to cite lectures, but if you do, ensure that you cite them correctly, as ‘speeches’ – as per the guidelines in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) 3rd edition.
? All material that you cite, or refer to, must be referenced in accordance to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) 3rd edition.
? Your research must be limited to published material, whether online or in print. You must not engage in any empirical or field research, such as research that involves personal contact with the vulnerable group, or with people who work with or have knowledge of that vulnerable group. This type of survey and behavioural research would require obtaining prior ethics approval.
Suggested Essay Structure:
Here is a basic guide on how you may structure your Law Reform Research Paper. You do not have to include the below as specific subheadings. Carefully consider how you will organize your research paper. While different sections of the paper may vary in length, ideally the introduction and conclusion should each be between 150-200 words.
Below is an example of how you may structure your paper. Please note this is only an example. You are not expected to follow this outline to the letter. Dependent on which vulnerable group you choose to research and write on, it may be more appropriate to focus on two or three areas (eg. International human rights, domestic protections/cases and recommendations).
1. Introduction: briefly state and describe the issue you are focusing on (e.g. the situation of Refugees, the legal status of LGBTI individuals, Indigenous Australians right to self determination) and identify and describe the vulnerable group you have chosen to focus on. Briefly explain, how the human rights of the vulnerable group are at risk, or are being violated. Provide a clear roadmap (outline the structure of your essay) to give the reader a clear idea of what is to come and effectively signpost how your paper will develop.
2. International Protections: Identify the relevant International Treaties or Covenants (or other international protections). Clearly explain which provisions of the treaty are relevant to the vulnerable group. Using these provisions, explain how the vulnerable groups’ human rights are being violated or not protected. Clearly indicate how the vulnerable group may use human rights provisions in advocacy and lobbying efforts to assist their situation.
4. The Political Context: Explain the political context (comparing the domestic and international dimensions) of the human rights situation of the vulnerable group (e.g. the contentious debate about asylum seekers).
5. Domestic Protections: Identify the principal domestic legal protections (Federal and/or State), which affect the human rights of the vulnerable group. This will include legislation and might include important court cases. N.B. Federal or State protections might not be working, but that does not mean they do not exist. For some vulnerable groups, there may be an absence of legal protections and you should consider how the vulnerable group might effectively frame their human rights concern in the absence of any legal protection.
6. Recommendations for Reform: By reasoned argument, propose and explain at least one thing that the Australian government could do to enhance protection of the human rights of the vulnerable group (this may include new laws, new policies and/or new government services/police responses or a combination of strategies).
7. Conclusion: Sum up the findings of your essay and briefly comment on the implications of those findings.
8. Bibliography – for the purposes of this assessment you are not expected to provide a bibliography but you should cite any works referenced in the body of the research paper in footnotes following the AGLC 3rd edition.
