Former Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster AM delivered Curtin University’s 10th Annual Human Rights Lecture last night, urging audiences to consider humanity’s place amid war, inequality, technology and economics.
Mr Foster’s address — Reclaiming Humanity: Placing People at the Centre of a Fractured Rights and Economic Architecture — outlined his vision for a fundamental reorientation of human rights in the age of war, extreme inequality, and the emerging issue of data ownership and AI. He also explored the future of human rights in sport, particularly in his own field of global football.
“The founding promise of human rights is that every person carries an inherent dignity that no state, market or machine can take away,” Mr Foster said.
“This is not eroding by accident but being dismantled deliberately system by system, the human quietly removed from the centre of each and replaced by something else: a data point, a market, a weapon, an exception.
“Everything I describe has been built by human choices and can therefore be rebuilt.”
Mr Foster told the audience the rise of artificial intelligence had made the question of humanity even more urgent.
“Artificial intelligence is being built from the collective output of humanity — our art, journalism, scholarship and conversation — without consent or compensation, while algorithmic systems already decide human fates, stripped of judgement and mercy,” Mr Foster said.
Associate Professor Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, Director of Curtin University’s Centre for Human Rights Education, said it was an honour to have Mr Foster deliver this year’s Annual Human Rights Lecture.
“As conflict, economic uncertainty and the ethical challenges of AI test human rights, Craig’s lecture highlighted the need to keep people, dignity and justice at the centre of decision making,” Associate Professor Woldeyes said.
Curtin Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne said the 10th anniversary of the Annual Human Rights Lecture was an important milestone that reflected Curtin’s longstanding commitment to promoting informed discussion, critical thinking and action on human rights issues.
The occasion also marked a decade of the Honourable Michael D. Kirby AC CMG serving as Patron of Curtin’s Centre for Human Rights Education.
“As we mark the anniversary, we are proud to continue creating space for thoughtful discussion, diverse perspectives and the kind of critical reflection needed to help build more just and inclusive communities,” Professor Hayne said.
Presented by Curtin’s Centre for Human Rights Education, the 2026 Annual Human Rights Lecture was held at Curtin’s Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre. It was also streamed to an online audience.
