Warning: This story contains reference to domestic and family violence.
When Juliana Nkrumah looks back at her time spent protecting women's rights, she reflects on where she has come from.
Born and raised in Ghana, she remembers a motto taught to students at her high school — Wesley Girls’ School in Cape Coast — that inspired her to work in social justice.
"For me, it's about observing where there is need in the community, and not being backwards in coming forwards," she said.
"I just go forward to ensure that we bring justice to the people who are suffering."
She was the recipient of this year's Human Rights Medal at the Australian Human Rights Awards, held in Sydney on Friday evening.
The ceremony came ahead of Human Rights Day on 10 December, which marks 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
"It's very, very humbling," Nkrumah said of her nomination.
Juliana Nkrumah AM was the recipient of this year's Human Rights Medal, which is part of the Australian Human Rights Awards. Source: Supplied / Australian Human Rights Commission
Since then, Nkrumah's work has focused on issues surrounding gender-based violence, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
FGM refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is often carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15, sometimes by trained nurses using some anaesthetic, but often in someone's house rather than a medical facility.
FGM can be considered as a rite of passage for young girls entering into adulthood — and by some as a prerequisite for marriage or inheritance.
At least 200 million women and girls worldwide have experienced FGM. It is practised in 31 countries, most often in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to UNICEF.
Nkrumah said the practice reached Australia in the early 1990s "in a way that blindsided everybody". She became Australia's first FGM education officer and was asked to establish the NSW education program on how to address the issue.
"FGM is a practice that violates a host of human rights for women and girls," she said.
"Just one issue had to be dealt with in a way that not only helped the community to deal with it, but also helped the Australian system to understand and provide the appropriate support," she said.
Being 'a voice' for CALD women in Australia
Nkrumah moved into the broader area of domestic and family violence, working with Settlement Services International (SSI) — a not-for-profit organisation that delivers refugee settlement and migrant support services.
"We went out to advocate very strongly for the sector to begin to look at how they are delivering services to women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities," she said.
"We had several stories of people who were distrustful of the system, and would not access the referral points that we pointed them to."
Nkrumah said much of her work has focused on advocating for CALD women. She spent over a decade as the statewide coordinator for the NSW Police Force's Multicultural Community Liaison Officer Program, and continues to work as a Domestic and Family Violence Project Manager with SSI.
"If people don't speak out ... the voice of CALD women will not be heard in this sector," she said.
In 2015, she founded African Women Australia — a not-for-profit group that provides African women who are arriving in Australia with a place to "raise their voice".
"We created this group for them - so that they will find a way to advocate for themselves in their communities ... and to create spaces and avenues for them to express their voice, so that nobody will take their voice away from them."
People alienated from their human rights by discrimination, patriarchy
Looking back on her time in the sector, Nkrumah believes understanding of the experiences of CALD women facing violence has improved.
"We look back on the last five years, and we are very grateful that the voice of CALD women is being heard in the appropriate places in relation to gender-based violence," she said.
She said she's learned that human rights are "universal, indivisible and inalienable".
"But there are a lot of processes that go to efforts to alienate people from their human rights — like discrimination, patriarchy.
"Until people understand where they sit in relation to the social and cultural structures, they are not able to forge a way to address these issues."
Marking 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Human Rights awards, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), will form part of commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which it says Australia played a key role in drafting in 1948.
Also among the four Human Rights Medal finalists was Mechelle Turvey, who has advocated for systemic change for victims of crime
— the founder of a volunteer-operated medical service called Side Street Medics, which cares for those experiencing homelessness — and Dr Helen Watchirs OAM were also finalists. Watchirs has spent more than four decades advocating for human rights, leading to law reform in areas such as anti-terrorism, discrimination, mental health and criminal legislation.
There were 21 finalists across five categories, which also included the Law Award, Media & Creative Industries Award, Community Award, and Young People's Award.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus delivered the Human Rights Oration as part of the event.
Report proposes 'major reset' of Australia's human rights framework
It comes as the AHRC proposes a "major reset" of the country's human rights framework, in a report published on Thursday.
The report has 12 recommendations as part of its calls for a renewed framework, along with a National Human Rights Act, including improved government accountability, increased awareness about human rights, and better access to justice in instances when a person's rights are breached.
Earlier this year, Dreyfus announced an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to review the scope and effectiveness of the country's 2010 Human Rights Framework and the National Human Rights Action Plan.
The committee has conducted public hearings and received over 300 submissions, with its report due in March next year. These included discussion of issues such as whether the parliament should enact a federal Human Rights Act.
The AHRC has already proposed a model for such an act, which would aim to address human rights complaints through conciliation or administrative appeal, with referral to the Federal Court if required.
It would also place obligations on government to ensure Indigenous peoples' participation in decision making, and to consider the human rights impacts of climate change and basic rights to housing and an adequate standard of living.
The new report, published Thursday, builds on this, with a proposed framework that would support the act. This would include setting up a National Human Rights Indicator Index, annual human rights statements to parliament and a national education program.
“This report proposes a major reset of Australia’s human rights framework so that the rights of all people can be better understood and properly protected. It sets out a reform agenda to modernise protections and meet the challenges of 21st-century life," Croucher said.
It comes as the government and Opposition voted down an attempt by independent senator Lidia Thorpe to enshrine in law rights established by
Thorpe, a Gunnai Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung woman, introduced the private member's bill to establish a framework for the implementation of the UNDRIP in March last year. It was voted down on Wednesday morning.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit . In an emergency, call 000.
Women from migrant and refugee backgrounds who are experiencing family or domestic violence can contact inTouch, the Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence on 1800 755 988 or visit .
