MLS Human Rights Program

Banner Image Credit – Kaff Eine, Street Artist, MLS LLB – mural in Benalla, rural Victoria, honouring the beauty of LGBTIQ+ youth, 2015

News and Events

Coordinator and Fellows

Faculty Members

Graduate Researchers

MLS Human Rights Community

The MLS Human Rights Community is a unique initiative only open to MLS students in the JD, LLM and RHD programs.

It offers a range of opportunities for MLS students to meet regularly and engage in a range of social, academic and advocacy projects related to human rights.

Student feedback has been extremely positive –

"Brilliant - by far the highlight of my JD so far. The expertise and passion of all the staff involved is unmatched’; ‘The Human Rights community has undoubtedly provided many of us a safe space and community’; ‘It was a great opportunity to learn more about human rights law and the opportunities available to students, and the possible career paths."

Students can enrol here

MLS Human Rights Community

2022 MLS Community Report
Professor John Tobin established the Human Rights Program in 2022, with the primary goal of curating and promoting the extensive range of teaching, research and engagement activities being undertaken within the Melbourne Law School (MLS) in the field of human rights. The Human Rights Program’s secondary goal is to increase students’ engagement with co-curricular activities and campus life, by fostering an inclusive, diverse and active community built on a shared passion for Human Rights.

Year 8 Conference

Student Groups

Public Interest Law Network

The Public Interest Law Network (PILN) is a student organisation based at Melbourne Law School which aims to raise awareness of public interest law issues and connect students with opportunities to volunteer and work in the public interest law sector. PILN works to achieve these aims primarily through  running events and sharing information about social justice issues or external events. We hope that this page can act as a forum where anyone can post relevant news and information about upcoming events to do with public interest law.

Law Students for Refugees

Law Students for Refugees is a student-led organisation from the University of Melbourne Graduate School Association that promotes and protects the welfare of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. We advocate for refugee rights and aim to increase awareness of refugee-related issues through our  events, blog posts, preparation of letters to Ministers and in-person rallies around Victoria. LSFR also launched our Legal Assistance Program in November 2021 which currently sees around 100 students placed in volunteer organisations assisting Afghan refugees with their visa applications. Whilst we  are run by law students, LSFR welcomes all interested parties to get involved in our initiatives, students or otherwise.

Student Societies

The Law School has several student groups who represent the interests of its students. They run social activities, career network, tutorials, mooting competitions and many other activities and programs to assist in your overall student experience. They are:

Graduate Student Societies

The Law School and the University of Melbourne have student groups who represent the interests of graduate researchers. They run social activities, career network, tutorials, thesis boot camp competitions and many other activities and programs to assist in your overall student experience. They are:

Teaching Programs

JD. LLM and Breadth

Melbourne Law School offers an extensive range of human rights subjects in its JD and Masters programs. It also offers the subject, Human Rights and Global Justice as a breadth subject to students undertaking undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne.

Melbourne Law Masters

The Melbourne JD

Breadth subject

Clinical Program

Students enrolled in The Melbourne JD have the opportunity to enrol in an exciting range of clinical programs which deal with human rights issues.


Internships

Students enrolled in the JD and MLM program have the opportunity to participate in local or international internships with leading human rights organisations