Human Rights and Modern Slavery at The Benevolent Society

Human rights protect our most basic needs and fundamental freedoms. Human rights protect the most vulnerable people in our communities from exploitation and ensure equality for all. 

Here is what we are doing as an organisation to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals and communities and advocate for broader social change.

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Our Commitment

The Benevolent Society is committed to respecting, protecting and promoting human rights. We acknowledge our role and responsibility in safeguarding human rights and we are working toward applying a human rights lens right across our organisation, including in the way we make decisions, develop and influence policy and support our clients and the Australian community more broadly. 

In our 2021 – 2024 Strategic Plan, we have committed to embracing and embedding a human rights culture.

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Why Human Rights Matter to Us

As an organisation focused on human services, respecting, protecting and promoting human rights is in our DNA. 
We:

  • believe human rights is a powerful advocacy tool for supporting and empowering our clients and advancing our organisational vision and purpose
  • recognise there are increasing legislative and regulatory laws and evolving governing frameworks and policies that advocate adopting a human rights approach
  • comply with Federal and state-based human rights laws that apply to us

Our Approach to Human Rights

Our Human Rights and Modern Slavery Policy helps set organisational tone and direction.  This policy exists within a framework of other policies that support our human rights position. 

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Human Rights in Queensland

In Queensland, the Human Rights Act 2019 (QLD) came into effect on 1 January 2020. This law protects 23 human rights for people in Queensland and requires us to consider human rights in our decision making when we are doing work for the Queensland government. You can read more about the 23 protected rights here. If you think we’ve breached your human rights, please let us know. We’re ready to listen and committed to doing better.  

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Modern Slavery

Modern slavery is one of the most serious breaches of human rights. We adopt a human rights approach to combatting modern slavery and we are committed to working toward eradicating all forms of modern slavery that may be present in our operations and supply chain.

We are a reporting entity under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). Every year, we submit a statement which outlines, amongst other things, how we are combatting modern slavery. You can read our modern slavery statements here: 

A roadmap which highlights our key achievements and initiatives related to modern slavery over the last three years can be found here.

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Community Partner Resources

We have also developed some resources for like-minded organisations. We know we can have a much greater impact on issues such as human rights and modern slavery when we collaborate with others. You are welcome to use these resources within your organisation in accordance with our licence terms.  

We are continuing to build on these resources and always welcome feedback.