The Australian Human Rights Commission has announced finalists in the Print and Online Media and Law Award categories for the upcoming Human Rights Awards.

Print and Online Media Award
The long and winding road
Rosemarie Milsom, The Newcastle Herald

This article explores the traumatic resettlement process for people who have often spent years living in refugee camps dealing with displacement, death of loved ones and fear of the future.
Milsom made contact with Jerome Rugaruza, a 39 year old Congolese refugee and Newcastle University student, in July 2011.
Having resettled in Newcastle in December 2009, Jerome had been awaiting reunion with his wife, Imaculee, and their four children after years of hardship and tragedy.
Milsom's article documents the first week of Jerome's families arrival at Newcastle Airport. The diary format provides readers with a 'fly-on-the-wall' perspective offering insights into personal, everyday details of the resettlement experience and the challenges faced by newly arrived refugees.
Milsom's article invites readers inside the world of newly resettled refugees. Through the eyes of one family's courage and the challenges they face, we experience their arduous journey, and their fears, hopes and aspirations for a new life in Australia.

The sad truth behind closed doors
Adele Horin, Fairfax Newspapers

Adele Horin researched and produced a series of articles which brought to light human rights violations of people with a disability living in licensed boarding houses in NSW.
Horin uncovered abuse and neglect in boarding houses and her efforts, along with those of disability advocacy groups, contributed to the public release of a NSW Ombudsman's special report on boarding houses in August this year.
The report, 'More than board and lodging: the need for boarding house reform,' reports on the vulnerability and poor circumstances of people with a disability living in licensed boarding houses.
Horin's coverage of the report and the horrific and frightening picture it painted of a sector where the most basic human needs are not provided, such as adequate food and basic health care, put the issue well and truly on the radar.
By giving voice to a variety of individuals and groups, including residents and advocacy organisations, Horin's fair and balanced pieces were instrumental in raising awareness of the abuse taking place at Grand Western Lodge, a licensed boarding house in Milthorpe, NSW.
Horin's report and the publicity which followed triggered a new commitment by the NSW Government to address the ongoing human rights issues in boarding houses.

Young and Trapped
Nicole Precel, Dandenong Leader Newspaper

At the age of 22, Ben Thompson acquired a brain injury after being punched to the ground.
Now, like many other Australians with a disability, he lives in an aged care facility.
Precel's article illustrates how a lack of specialised facilities and inadequate support have forced young Australians like Ben to live in age inappropriate facilities.
One of 70 young Victorians who are forced to live in nursing home facilities due to disability, acquired brain injury or degenerative conditions, Ben is also one of 3295 Australians under 60 who live in nursing homes. Eighty-two per cent never see people their own age and 13 per cent never go outside.
As well as raising awareness of the issue and pushing for continued funding for purpose-built accommodation for young people, the aftermath of Precel's articles also delivered more personal benefits.
Ben has since been chosen as one of nine young people to move into a youth supported accommodation service in Noble Park. The move has given him the opportunity to further develop and improve his movement skills.

Mental Health behind bars: why women prisoners are set up to fail
Inga Ting, Crikey

The number of women being jailed in NSW has risen more than 60 per cent in the past decade, compared to a 25 per cent increase in the rate of imprisonment of men.
Of 850 women prisoners in NSW, about 86 per cent have at least one psychiatric disorder.
These are just some of the sobering facts presented by Inga Ting in this powerful series.
Women in prison are more likely than the general population to have experienced childhood trauma, family and domestic violence, spent time in care, or to have been separated as children and from their children.
Ting explores the experiences of these women. She puts the spotlight on the soaring rates of mental illness in the NSW prison system and the situation of those with mental illness who find themselves locked behind bars.
Through giving a voice to ex-prisoners, prisoners' family members, current and former prison staff and prison reform advocates, Ting's series raised awareness of how disadvantage, mental illness and criminality are increasingly tangled in a system that not only punishes the most marginalised but also compounds and perpetuates their disadvantage.
The Print and Online Media Award is sponsored by Vibe Australia.

Law Award
Stephen Kenny
Stephen commenced practice more than 30 years ago with the Northern Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. He currently acts for three of the largest Native Title claim groups in South Australia and has a policy of providing free legal advice to all members.
Today, Stephen Kenny is a legal practitioner with the firm Camatta Lempens, in Adelaide.
Stephen is known for his work passionately and consistently advocating for those socially or economically disadvantaged in our community. He has also demonstrated an ongoing willingness to act pro bono.
As a legal adviser to the group known as the Foreign Prisoner Support Services, he has assisted Australians in various countries around the world.
Stephen acted for David Hicks over a three year period and is currently acting on a pro bono basis for another South Australian, Robert Langdon, who is on death row in Afghanistan.
From 2005 until the present, Stephen has actively worked for the Abass family from Sydney in search for Muhuamma Abass, an Australian citizen and retired Telstra engineer, who was kidnapped for ransom at Cairo Airport.
Stephen's commitment to ensuring access to justice has been a lifelong goal and his passion for helping those in the community less advantaged than others has always been a hallmark of his legal practice.
Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, Allens Arthur Robinson, Debbie Mortimer SC and Richard Niall SC
This legal team has acted pro bono in two landmark High Court cases which have upheld human rights and the rule of law.
Individually, each member of the team has also advised and acted pro bono in a significant number of other cases to promote and protect human rights.
In Plaintiff M61 v The Commonwealth & Ors (11 November 2010), the team acted on behalf of two Sri Lankan asylum seekers who arrived by boat at Christmas Island and sought to claim refugee status. In a unanimous decision, the High Court held that, despite the status of Christmas Island as an 'excised offshore place', the men were entitled to the full protection of Australian law and to procedural fairness.
In Plaintiff M70 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (31 August 2011), the team acted for two asylum seekers, including one 16 year old child, scheduled to be deported from Christmas Island to Malaysia for the processing of their refugee claims.
In a 6-1 decision, the High Court held that under the Migration Act, the government could not send asylum seekers for processing to a third country unless that country satisfied certain criteria.
In both these landmark cases, the legal team acted pro bono and ensured not only that each of these plaintiffs would have their claims for refugee status determined in Australia under Australian law, but that the fundamental tenets ofaccess to justice, procedural fairness, executive accountability and the rule of law were protected and preserved.

Dr Lawrence Alan Laikind
Dr Laikind is a vision impaired ex-dentist who has worked as a solicitor in the area of human rights and anti-discrimination since 1994. He is also the first and longest practising solicitor operating the Disability Discrimination Legal Advocacy Service (DDLAS in Queensland).
Laikind's landmark achievements include Cocks v State of Queensland, which contributed to formulation of an access to premises standard under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) which was incorporated into the Building Code of Australia (BCA) in May this year. The case concerned the fact that people with a physical disability could not access the main entrance to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, which was on the first floor and involved using 27 ceremonial steps.
Dr Laikind was also involved in C v A in 2005. Here, an owner-occupier could not enter her home unit building due to her disabilities. She required and obtained automatic doors and $25,000 compensation.
Dr Laikind was involved in 1995 in a then ground-breaking case, Finn v Minister of Education which contributed to creation of the "Moving Ahead" program. The program allowed up to $20,000 for post school options for two years, at a time when there were no post school options for children with severe disabilities in Queensland.
In addition to Dr Laikind's cases, he has also contributed to major developments in access for people with disability including numerous accessible lifts being added to buildings, and provision of sign language interpreters for patients in hospital.

Rowan Silva
Mr Silva's experience as a lawyer demonstrates a career promoting and advancing human rights in Australia.
In the 1991 case, Scott and Wood v Venturator Investments, Mr Silva appeared as a key witness giving evidence on behalf of the complainants, two Aboriginal women who had been refused service at the Herbert Hotel in the middle of Townsville CBD.
He complained to the Commission on the women's behalf, with the Commission subsequently upholding each complaint.
In a case which highlighted entrenched discriminatory attitudes, Mr Silva represented an Indigenous prison officer employed at Townsville Correctional Centre, Mr Patel, who'd alleged he'd been forced to resign due to the discriminatory behaviour of other prison officers towards him personally and towards Indigenous inmates at the prison.
Mr Silva has also successfully represented many women in cases involving sex discrimination, sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination.
Mr Silva's work has regularly addressed discrimination and inequality. This year has seen Mr Silva act in the matter of Carey v Cairns Regional Council and Ors which concerns unlawful discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity.
His complaint was upheld following a four day trial and he was awarded an amount of $368,000.000 in compensation.
The Law Award is sponsored by the Law Council of Australia.