The good citizen of Australia: human rights and citizenship in the twenty-first century

A number of governments, including Australia’s, have proposed the revocation of citizenship as a means to deter engagement in terrorism. This lecture considers the political and legal context of these proposals and discuss their compatibility with international human rights standards. Professor Charlesworth addresses the Commonwealth draft legislation that would strip citizenship from dual nationals if they were suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. She examines the draft legislation and then considers how it makes citizenship a commodity to be earned by the virtuous, arguing for an approach to terrorism that is based in respect for human rights. Hilary Charlesworth Hilary Charlesworth is Distinguished Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Australian National University. She also holds an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship. She has taught in a number of Australian law schools and has been a visiting professor at institutions including Harvard Law School, New York University Global Law School, UCLA, Paris I and the London School of Economics. She received, with Christine Chinkin, the American Society of International Law’s Goler T. Butcher award  for ‘outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights law’. She is an associate member of the Institut de Droit International and served as judge ad hoc in the International Court of Justice in the Whaling in the Antarctic Case (2011-2014).&nbsp