TODAY is World Human Rights Day and the perfect time to focus on why Tasmania needs a Human Rights Act.

On this day in Paris in 1948 the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

After experiencing the horror of World War II the international community wanted to guarantee basic human rights and promote peace and prosperity.

Human rights are just as important today because the world still grapples with violent extremists preaching hatred and division.

Thinking locally on this global issue, Tasmania does not have a Human Rights Act, but we need one. Victoria and the ACT have had them for 10 years. There are young Tasmanian children who do not enjoy the right to adequate food when they are not given breakfast and turn up to school hungry. There are elderly denied the right to housing when they sleep rough at night. There are people with disabilities denied the right to self determination when they are excluded from decisions that affect their lives.

These vulnerable groups have their rights denied on a daily basis and there are more examples if you look for them. Human rights violations are found in the most vulnerable and marginalised groups.

In 2007 the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute released a report recommending the state enact human rights legislation to remedy three fundamental flaws in how we currently protect rights.

Firstly, the institute found, current rights protection in Tasmania is partial because our laws do not protect all rights. For example, the right to education was much discussed here this year and is agreed as a human right under international law, yet it is not guaranteed in Tasmania.

Secondly, our rights protection is fragmented. The few rights clearly protected in law are scattered across hundreds of regulations, thousands of court decisions and an array of government policy statements.

Thirdly, rights protection is inaccessible because, unless you are a lawyer, you cannot find what rights you have or how to protect them.

Combined, these three flaws mean those who most urgently need to assert their basic human rights are least likely to be able to do so.

A Tasmanian Human Rights Act that condenses all existing rights into one simple, easy to read document so everyone knows where they stand would solve this. The document would fill the gaps in protection and provide a formal way people could stand up for their rights.

By the next state election it will have been 10 years since the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute report. The time for a human rights law has arrived.

Today a petition is launched asking all political candidates for the 2018 election to commit to implement a Human Rights Act in the next term of Parliament 2018-2022. You can sign the petition online: www.tashumanrightsact.org.

How would a Human Rights Act protect the vulnerable? The government would appoint a human rights commissioner to help and represent people and who would be able to examine long-term systemic issues and help individuals.

People would be able to challenge government decisions that remove their rights. The commissioner would first try to resolve people’s concerns through mediation. Where mediation fails, a complaint could be taken to a court and a judge asked to make binding orders.

The proposed Act would not allow courts to strike down laws as invalid. MPs would hold the ultimate decision about what the law should be.

If well written and properly implemented, a Human Rights Act would help vulnerable and marginalised people in direct and practical ways. Ultimately, the laws would help build a more egalitarian Tasmanian and guarantee a fair go for all.

Please consider signing the petition and I look forward to reporting back on Human Rights Day 2017 on the progress we have made.

Richard Griggs is state director of Civil Liberties Australia.