126: The Politics of Human Rights - Craig Foster

 

Today’s guest wears a lot of impressive hats: Former Socceroo | Broadcaster | Adjunct Professor, Sport & Social Responsibility | Author | and Human Rights Activist


Who else could this be but Craig Foster AM?


Following a decorated football career as Australia’s 419th Socceroo and 40th Captain, Craig has become one of Australia’s most respected sports people as a broadcaster, social justice advocate, and human rights campaigner.


Craig represented Australia in the Junior National Team at age 15 in the first FIFA Under 16 World Cup in China, 1985 where he was selected in the FIFA Team of the Tournament. He would later go on to represent Australia at senior level on 29 occasions including as Captain.


Following retirement, he quickly became one of Australia’s most respected sports broadcasters with an 18-year, triple Logie-winning career with Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS (https://www.sbs.com.au/) ) as part of The World Game (TWG) team which included five FIFA World Cups and four FIFA Women’s World Cups as well as the UEFA Champions League, English Premier League and domestic competitions.


He is a vocal supporter of a higher humanitarian intake by Australia and particularly an increased intake for Afghan refugees.


A smidgen of his relevant humanitarian work efforts includes being:


• A member of the Australian Multicultural Council (https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/Pa...) under the Department of Home Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship division

• An Ambassador for Amnesty Australia (https://www.amnesty.org.au/) , the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, (http://affinity.org.au/) and Addison Road Community Centre (https://addiroad.org.au/)  including their #RacismNotWelcome (https://addiroad.org.au/news/racismno...)  campaign for Local Councils across Australia, Pushing Barriers (https://www.pushingbarriers.org/about...) , an Australia Committee member with Human Rights Watch (https://hrwa.org.au/committee/index.html) , Advisory Council member of the Australian Human Rights Institute (https://www.humanrights.unsw.edu.au/n...) , UNSW and a Director of the Crescent Foundation (https://crescentfoundation.com.au/) .


His humanitarian activism extends to several, high-profile campaigns including #SaveHakeem to free Bahraini refugee Hakeem al-Araibi from a Thai prison for which he was a Finalist for the Australian Human Rights Commission Medal.


He is a former columnist for the Sun Herald, author, and co-author of several books including ‘Fighting for Hakeem’ (https://www.hachette.com.au/craig-fos...) by Hachette Australia, and writes for the Guardian, The Age, and other publications and holds a Professional Coaching License and helped guide dozens of Australia’s finest young female and male talents, many of whom graduated to Australia’s National Teams.


In 2019, the Australian Financial Review recognized Craig as a ‘True Australian Leader’, the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the ‘People that Defined 2019′, he was the recipient of the 2020 NSW Government Humanitarian Award for his work with sport and human rights, an Australian Human Rights Commission Medal finalist, was awarded the Australian Muslim Council 2020 Abyssinian Medal (https://www.amust.com.au/2020/12/musl...)  and was a finalist for the NSW 2021 Australian of the Year (https://www.australianoftheyear.org.a...) .


In 2021, Craig became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours List which he ded