2006 Human Rights Medal Awarded to Father Chris Riley

Father Chris Riley has been named a joint-winner of the prestigious Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s annual Human Rights Medal with Phillip Adams AO.

The judges felt that Father Riley had made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia and was a very deserved winner of this year’s award.

Father Riley has established a variety of programs to assist in breaking the cycle of poverty, disadvantage and marginalisation of young people. His Youth Off The Streets (YOTS) programs and services have helped over 60,000 young people since they were first established in 1991.

In 1997 he opened Key College, where he pioneered a flexible education delivery model to help young people living on the streets to return to mainstream school. He also set up an outreach program in Macquarie Fields in Sydney following the riots there.

Since 2003, Father Riley has run a camp for children with disabilities and initiated the Brumbies Wild Horse program, which is part of the Service Learning Model for the students of Matthew Hogan High.

The judges felt that Father Riley exemplified human rights in action. By his energy, vision and compassion he has not only helped an overwhelming number of individual young people out of a cycle of extreme disadvantage but has set in place networks and programs to educate the community about the need to make changes to help future generations of kids to have a better chance in life.
Father Riley joins a distinguished list of past Human Rights Medal winners including: The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby (1991), Dr Faith Bandler (1997), Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser (2000), Michael Raper (2002) and Kevin Cocks (2005).

Awards were presented in seven other categories – Law (sponsored by the Law Council of Australia), Community (Individual and Organisation), Arts Non-Fiction, Print Media, Television and Radio.