NT Human Rights Awards 2024

Media Release – 13 December 2024

2024 NT Human Rights Awards – 10 December 2024

On Tuesday night an audience of over 140 people gathered at the CDU Danala Precinct in Darwin city to recognise and acknowledge the amazing work of people and organisations across the NT who are working for human rights every single day. A record 73 nominations were received for the annual NT Human Rights Awards “the Fitzgerald’s”, that acknowledge the work of the late Tony Fitzgerald, who was the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner from 2002 until 2009.

The event celebrated the work of the 10 remarkable award winners across the categories of Diversity, Youth, Justice and Social Change. Winners came from localities across the NT, including from Galiwin'ku, an island off the coast of East Arnhem in the Top End, to Tennant Creek in the Barkly region of the Territory.

The human rights focus of the award winners was incredibly diverse, they included individuals and organisations who, worked to house homeless people, empowered people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, advocated for seniors and people living with disabilities, supported disadvantaged young people, advocated for young people and adults who are incarcerated, empowered young women who are subjected to sexual exploitation, provided hot meals to people who were hungry, provided legal representation to disadvantaged and marginalised people, lead their community to protect their traditional country and cultural practices from exploitation, to representing communities whose livelihoods were devastated by man-made disasters.

In the spirit of the global theme of the 2024 International Human Rights Day of “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”, the winners of this year’s NT Human Rights Awards should inspire everyone to acknowledge the importance and relevance of human rights, to change perceptions by countering negative stereotypes and misconceptions and mobilise action to reinvigorate local, national and global movements for human rights. “Governments, businesses and organisations must do better in applying rights-based approaches as part of the business model to improve purpose and stakeholder value“ said NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Jeswynn Yogaratnam.

A full list of the winners can be found here

All enquires to be directed to antidiscrimiation@nt.gov.au