1. About Stand Up and Be Counted
2. Stand Up and Be Counted in 2010
3. Stand Up and Be Counted in 2011
4. Request a Human Rights Workshop
5. Human rights update
6. Funding bodies

1. About Stand Up and Be Counted

In late 2008 Banksia Gardens received funding from Amnesty International's Human Rights Innovation Fund to increase the profile of human rights within Hume City. This led to the establishment of the Stand Up and Be Counted project, which seeks to educate, inspire and empower community members to take action for human rights. The specific goals of the original project were:

1. To promote the growth of a human rights constituency in Australia.
2. To have a demonstrable human rights impact.
3. To raise awareness of important human rights documents, such as the Universal Declaration of 1948.
4. To raise awareness of the above documents and people’s everyday rights.
5. To increase the diversity of Amnesty International supporters.
6. To set a precedent for the establishment of a joint annual event to celebrate Human Rights.

In order to achieve this, the project successfully delivered: 

1. Itinerant Human Rights Workshops in Neighbourhood Houses, local schools and community groups.
2. A Human rights Competition aimed at collecting relevant personal stories from community members.
3. A publication documenting, displaying and celebrating the local stories collected.
4. A community event (Hume’N Writes Publication Launch and Public Lecture) with keynote speakers including VEOHRC’s Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke, Brian Walters SC from Liberty Victoria and Mohammed El-Leissy from the Islamic Council of Victoria. This event took place at the Hume Global Learning Centre in Broadmeadows with 100 community members attending.

A copy of the publication ‘Hume’N Writes’ can be downloaded here

2. Stand Up and Be Counted in 2010 

Youth Educate for Hume’N Rights in Schools Project

Banksia Gardens has been fortunate enough to receive funding from Amnesty International’s Human Rights Innovation fund for a second time to deliver a program titled Youth Educate for Hume’N Rights in Schools (YE4RS). This program is the first of its kind to provide Student Representative Council (SRC) students to develop as human rights leaders. YE4RS aimed to equip young people with the knowledge and skills and to facilitate human rights activities and to bring human rights education to their peers as a permanent part of their school’s curriculum. It was a partnership between Banksia Gardens Community Centre, Amnesty International and Roxburgh College.

This project was inspired by the involvement and positive response of young people to BGCC’s first human rights project. BGCC found this initiative a great way to deliver human rights education to  schools, and we will seek funding to continue to set a precedent for human rights training to be incorporated annually into schools' curriculum.  YE4RS utilised a youth participation framework so that young people were responsible for educating their peers about rights that are of concern to them.

The young people engaged in this program received the following training:

1. Introduction to Human Rights and Children’s Rights
2. Protection of Human Rights (Internationally and in Australia)
3. Balancing Human Rights
4. Taking action for Human Rights
5. Human Rights in the School Context
6. Human Rights Community Event Planning and Advocacy

3. Stand Up and Be Counted in 2011 

Banksia Gardens Community Centre is happy to report that the Stand Up and Be Counted Project is here to stay! In 2011 Banksia Gardens has continued to deliver human rights workshops with a variety of community groups including the Sunbury and Gisborne Universities of the 3rd Age, Dallas Neighbourhood House and several groups of young people from Kangan Institute.

In addition to this, in collaboration with Hume City Council, in the last twelve months Banksia Gardens Community Centre has delivered a four session human rights training course to more than 60 volunteers, local council employees and community workers through the Hume Volunteer Gateway.

4. Request a Human Rights Workshop

Banksia Gardens Community Centre will also continue to deliver human rights workshops to Neighbourhood Houses, Schools and local community groups within Hume. If you would like to request a workshop please email the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 9309 8531.

5. Human Rights Update

Amnesty International’s 2011 State of the World Human Rights report indicated that while there certainly have been positive developments, we are in the midst of a global human rights crisis. Globally people are still suffering injustice, insecurity and indignity. It can often feel that closing the gap between ideal of human rights and its actual implementation is merely an aspiration – in Australia as well as internationally.

The responsibility and protection of human rights thus rests heavily on the shoulders of community members. Banksia Gardens is strongly of the opinion that human rights is a practical theory that guides thinking about what people should have freedoms to do and what they should not have to suffer. They are an invaluable starting point for striving to not just leave the world as it is, but to transform it – in this way, human rights carry not merely an aspirational purpose, but are a pragmatic force as a “fighting doctrine”.

So, we encourage YOU to take action for human rights in your local community, how? Here are some suggestions...

1. Learn about Human Rights via newspapers, internet or at your local library.
2. Contact us to reach a human rights facilitator to run a human rights workshop.
3. Join a Human Rights Group eg. Amnesty International or our very own Hume Youth Action Group.
4. Write to your local MP or paper about an issue that concerns you.
5. Bring Human Rights to your community or school through a fundraising day or campaign.
6. Talk to a friend or family about what human rights are and why they are important!

6. Funding bodies

The 'Stand Up and Be Counted' and the Youth Educate for Hume’N Rights in Schools Projects were funded by Amnesty International Australia.