Whitehorse Manningham Libraries

Join interviewer and writer Claire Halliday in this important online conversation with Elaine Pearson.

Elaine's new non-fiction book, Chasing Wrongs and Rights shines a light on human rights abuses locally and globally - and inspires us all to take action.

Growing up in Perth, Elaine Pearson always dreamt of the wider world. Her British father and Singaporean-Chinese mother meant that her family extended beyond our shores, but it wasn’t until later in life that she fully understood how her professional calling might have been influenced by personal history: she learned that her beloved maternal grandmother had been sold to an opera troupe as a child to save the family from starvation.

Elaine's interest in women’s rights and people-trafficking, takes us on an international survey of human rights – into the UN committee rooms of New York and Geneva, as well as to the front-lines of Sri Lanka’s search for those who disappeared in the country’s civil war, examining death squad killings on the Philippines island of Mindanao and the detention of asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea. Her insights into the treatment of prisoners in Australia, many of whom are Aboriginal, demonstrates that human rights abuses are something that also happen in our own backyard.

Chasing Wrongs and Rights sometimes shows humanity at its worst. Just as often, though, it reveals at their best – compassionate, resilient, determined.
Elaine Pearson’s story will leave you understanding how much needs to change, and how individuals truly can make a difference. Content warning: this session will contain discussions of people trafficking, human rights abuses & domestic violence.