Creating a legal framework for copyright management of open access within the Australian academic and research sector

This chapter analyses the copyright law framework needed to ensure open access to outputs of the Australian academic and research sector such as journal articles and theses. It overviews the new knowledge landscape, the principles of copyright law, the concept of open access to knowledge, the recently developed open content models of copyright licensing and the challenges faced in providing greater access to knowledge and research outputs.

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights : Putting Accounting for Human Rights into Practice

The “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework’” (the Guiding Principles), endorsed by The United Nations Human Rights Council on 16 June 2011, outline obligations for nation states that currently exist under international law and provide the first authoritative reference point for corporations’ human rights responsibilities. Of the 30 principles endorsed, half relate directly to business. The Guiding Principles have far-reaching implications for all businesses, both small and large, and represent one of the most significant developments in corporate governance this century. In response to a recognition of the potential impacts of the Guiding Principles on corporate governance, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia provided La Trobe Business School with grant funding to undertake groundbreaking research on the implications of the Guiding Principles for management and accounting systems within corporate Australia. This report represents the outcome of the study.

Michael Kirby's challenge: Intellectual property, HIV/AIDS, and human rights

In July 2014, Melbourne hosted the 20th International AIDS Conference. The event opened, paying tribute to the late Dutch HIV/AIDS researcher Professor Joep Lange, with his image projected onto a screen, with the accompanying quotation: ‘If we can bring a bottle of Coke to every corner of Africa, we should be able to also deliver antiretroviral drugs.’

IPCC Makes Climate A Human Rights Issue

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published its latest report upon the impacts of global warming, highlighting the pernicious impact of climate change upon public health, well-being, and even the survival of the human race.

Opening Pandora's box: Secret treaty threatens human rights

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) 2011 - Twitter hashtag #ACTA - is a controversial trade agreement designed to provide for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights.

The Trans-Pacific partnership: Brunei, trade, and human rights

The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, has said that ‘Australia is Open for Business’. His trade and investment minister, Andrew Robb, has vigorously pursued bilateral trade agreements with neighbours, South Korea, Japan, China, and India — as well as the regional trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Such trade activity raises questions about the relationship between trade policy and human rights. If we are open for business, should we be open for business for countries engaged in human rights abuses? Should enter into trade agreements, which could have an adverse upon human rights? The Trans-Pacific Partnership highlights a range of problems with Australia’s treaty-making process. One important issue is the question of the relationship between trade and human rights.

A human rights-based approach to disaster displacement in the Asia-Pacific

This paper analyzes the application of rights-based approaches to disaster displacement in the Asia-Pacific region in order to assess whether the current framework is sufficient to protect the rights of internally displaced persons. It identifies that disaster-induced displacement is increasingly prevalent in the region and that economic and social conditions in many countries mean that the impact of displacement is often prolonged and more severe. The paper identifies the relevant human rights principles which apply in the context of disaster-induced displacement and examines their implementation in a number of soft-law instruments. While it identifies shortcomings in impementation and enforcement, the paper concludes that a rights-based approach could be enhanced by greater engagement with existing human rights treaties and greater implementation of soft-law principles, and that no new instrument is required.

Authentically ambiguous, credibly anonymous: Perceptually reframing the personal narrative towards effective persuasion in aggressive human rights contexts

Testing the strategies of discourse and materiality, this practice-based and practice-led research experiments with how anonymous storytelling by vulnerable communities, like that of the sexual minorities and their allies in Malaysia, can better speak to their human rights issues without further subjecting them to personal attacks and targetted persecution. The research identifies the critical role of the voice in lending authenticity and credibility to first person narratives; and contextual credibility as a form of credibility which personal stories naturally aspire to achieve with audiences. Adopting a discursive view of persuasion and recognising too that the power of persuasion may in effect lie with those who receive these stories rather than with those who tell them, the insights and knowledge gained from the research informed the development of the field output, Persuasive Storytelling by Vulnerable Communities in Aggressive Contexts: A Human Rights Communication Framework.

Climate change and human rights: Intellectual property challenges and opportunities

Mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change will require innovation and the development of new technologies. Intellectual property laws have a key part to play in the global transfer of climate technologies. However, failures to properly utilize flexibilities in intellectual property regimes or comply with technology transfer obligations under international climate change agreements calls for a human rights based analysis of climate technology transfer. Climate change is an unprecedented challenge and requires unprecedented strategies. Given the substantial impact of climate change on all of humanity and the ethical imperative to act, a complete rethink of traditional intellectual property approaches is warranted. This report proposes a series of intellectual property law policy options, through a human rights framework, aimed at promoting access to technologies to reduce the human suffering caused by climate change.

Uzbekistan Supplementary NGO Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Republic of Uzbekistan

[Excerpt] The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was one of the first international instruments to which the Republic of Uzbekistan acceded, and with parliamentary ratification on 9 December 1992, the Republic of Uzbekistan entered into a commitment to observe all the provisions of the CRC and to shoulder its responsibility before the international community. As a result various legislative, administrative and other steps have been taken by the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan with a view to bringing the State policy and legislation on children to be in line with the provisions as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Constitution incorporates the fundamental provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the current stage in the restructuring of the country’s social and economic development, solid foundations have been laid for the conduct of significant democratic reforms based on a recognition of the innate worth of the individual (including the child) and of the unconditional respect of his or her rights and freedoms. Until recently, the State acted as the main guarantor of the provision of all social services, however the process of the transition (political/economic) to a market economy has entailed the development of new economic relations with a reduction in the allocation of state resources for the provision of social services to children. The efforts of the government made so far to bring the state policy and legislation on the child to be in line with the provisions enshrined in the convention on the rights of the child are commendable; never the less, the implementations of all these policies and laws into practice needs a lot to desire as there are a number of ongoing child rights violations. The National Report has fundamentally overlooked a number of child rights privileges enshrined in the CRC that have not yet been realised, or those rights that have been eroded since the independence. These shortcomings need to be noted for consideration so that the state steps up its efforts to enact new laws and/or to enforce the existing rules and regulations required for the protection and implementation of these child rights, and to improve the overall situation for children in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

NMR Spectroscopy of Multi-domain Proteins : Immunoglobulin-like Domains of Human Filamin A

Proteins are complex biomacromolecules playing fundamental roles in the physiological processes of all living organisms. They function as structural units, enzymes, transporters, process regulators, and signal transducers. Defects in protein functions often derive from genetic mutations altering the protein structure, and impairment of essential protein functions manifests itself as pathological conditions. Proteins operate through interactions, and all protein functions depend on protein structure. In order to understand biological mechanisms at the molecular level, one has to know the structures of the proteins involved. This thesis covers structural and functional characterization of human filamins. Filamins are actin-binding and -bundling proteins that have numerous interaction partners. In addition to their actin-organizing functions, filamins are also known to have roles in cell adhesion and locomotion, and to participate in the logistics of cell membrane receptors, and in the coordination of intracellular signaling pathways. Filamin mutations in humans induce severe pathological conditions affecting the brain, bones, limbs, and the cardiovascular system. Filamins are large modular proteins composed of an N-terminal actin-binding domain and 24 consecutive immunoglobulin-like domains (IgFLNs). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a versatile method of gaining insight into protein structure, dynamics and interactions. NMR spectroscopy was employed in this thesis to study the atomic structure and interaction mechanisms of C-terminal IgFLNs, which are known to house the majority of the filamin interaction sites. The structures of IgFLN single-domains 17 and 23 and IgFLN domain pairs 16-17 and 18-19 were determined using NMR spectroscopy. The structures of domain pairs 16 17 and 18 19 both revealed novel domain domain interaction modes of IgFLNs. NMR titrations were employed to characterize the interactions of filamins with glycoprotein Ibα, FilGAP, integrin β7 and dopamine receptors. Domain packing of IgFLN domain sextet 16 21 was further characterized using residual dipolar couplings and NMR relaxation analysis. This thesis demonstrates the versatility and potential of NMR spectroscopy in structural and functional studies of multi-domain proteins.