8 February 2018
On 8 February 2018 Dr Sev Ozdowski AM, President, ACHRE, attended the DFAT-NGO Forum on Human Rights held in Canberra. 
The Forum was opened by Justin Lee, new First Assistant Secretary, Multilateral Division, DFAT, with Frances Adamson, Secretary, DFAT, delivering Welcoming Remarks and the Hon Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, speaking about the importance of working closely with civil society throughout our Human Rights Council term. The Forum was addressed by many other significant speakers.
DFAT invited NGOs to take advantage of Australia’s HRC term to make with specific recommendations or requests related to HRC resolutions, panels or dialogues and to email this input to human.rights@dfat.gov.au two weeks prior to the commencement of the relevant HRC session. Those with suggestions for the 37th session of the Human Rights Council are invited to provide this input as soon as possible.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, announced at the Forum, DFAT will support the attendance of one Australian civil society representative at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC38) in June-July 2018.
Further information about this opportunity and Expression of Interest process can be found on the DFAT website: https://dfat.gov.au/international-relations/themes/human-rights/Pages/funding-opportunities.aspx
