Leaflet 2: Citizen of Australia or the world?

This leaflet shows the connections between the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens and universal rights and responsibilities. 1998 was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  • Have Australians always had equal rights as citizens?
  • Do all citizens have equal rights now?
  • What are the main human rights?
  • Which human rights are guaranteed by Australian citizenship?

Resources you can use

Books

Discovering Democracy Primary and Secondary Units: these books contain units on citizenship and public life. There is also a CD-ROM and a video.

Internet sites
About Citizenship, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

http://www.immi.gov.au/
This site has a lot of information. Downloading and printing are slow, so select carefully what you need. On this site also, the Australian Citizenship Council has an Issues Paper to mark the 50th anniversary of Australian citizenship. This Issues Paper explains the history of Australian citizenship and asks for comments on changing Australian citizenship. The paper is long, so you will need to choose sections for printing.

American Immigration Center

http://www.us-immigration.com/citizens.htm
Information about requirements for United States citizenship.

Citizenship Status in the US

http://www.usnaturalization.org/ Choose US Citizenship
Explains the process for becoming a citizen in the United States.

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/index.htm
Fact Sheets 64 and 66 are useful for this leaflet.

The Good Citizen: Australian Democracy & Citizenship

http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/
This site has a lot of information on rights and duties of citizens. Includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Reich Citizenship Law: First Regulation

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw4.html
Gives an example of one of the worst deprivations of peoples' rights and citizenship.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Celebrates 50 Years

http://www.haikuyear.com/ai/about/udhrinfo.html
1998 was the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.