Australian Human Rights Award Finalist

Digital Rights Watch considers it an honour to be a finalist in this year’s Human Rights Community Organisation Award.

This is an important recognition of the need for solid digital rights protections in this country.

The defence of human rights in this country is, sadly, becoming incredibly important. The reality is that our rights have consistently been compromised by successive governments, through badly designed legislation, ineffective oversight mechanisms and a failure of our political system.

We’re seeing a rise in the power of mono-capitalist technology platforms, an increase in surveillance operations in public and private spaces and the pervasiveness of technology that requires us to give up our individual privacy.

Our Government is contributing to this erosion, with warrantless mass surveillance of the public, attempts to stifle and control the free press, damaging anti-encryption laws and a rise in the use of unethical AI and algorithms in government service.

We offer our heartful congratulations to Just Reinvest NSW for their win, which is a testament to the important work that they do.