Emeritus Professor Andrea Durbach, a former director of the Australian Human Rights Centre (now Institute) and Professor at the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney, has been recognised during the Australia Day 2022 Honours List as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, to human rights, and to tertiary education.
Born and educated in South Africa, Professor Durbach practised as a political trial lawyer and human rights advocate, representing victims and opponents of apartheid laws. After leaving South Africa, she initially worked as a solicitor in private practice before joining the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) as Head of Legal Practice, subsequently becoming Executive Director. After 13 years with PIAC, Professor Durbach was offered the opportunity to teach law and run the Australian Human Rights Centre at UNSW and she has been a significant contributor to the teaching and researching of human rights and law at UNSW.
Professor Durbach has held senior positions in the human rights field, including as Deputy Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner (2011-2012) and has written on Indigenous rights and reparations, gender justice, public interest litigation, and health and human rights. She is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and in 2013, was awarded the Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Law Award for her promotion and advancement of human rights in Australia through the practice of law.
More recently, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Australian Human Rights Institute and co-organised the Institute's 2021 international conference, 'Health and Human Rights in the Climate Crisis: Charting Challenges and Solutions'.
"Andy's recent award for service to human rights doesn't come close to capturing a lifetime's worth of selfless struggle, enduring collaborations and intimate connections she has forged with people to improve their lives," said Australian Human Rights Institute director, Professor Justine Nolan.
"She is a giant in the field of human rights and a leader of such strong principles that the rest of us can only strive to attain.
"Her work is marked by an enduring lightness and humour that is omnipresent even when dealing with the most difficult of human rights crises on which she is constantly called to adjudicate on."