Antinuclear

A treaty with Australia’s Aboriginal people

TREATIES ARE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN EQUALS IC Magazine, by Callum Clayton-Dixon on April 28, 2014 All of a sudden [Australia’s] conservative coalition government is welcoming discussion about something we have demanded for decades, something Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised to deliver by 1990, and a proposal the current Labor opposition has labelled “stupid”.

While Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt claims treaties will cause “racial division”, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion says they are “agreements between equals” and considers this to be one of the issues Abbott’s Indigenous Advisory Council (IAC) should be looking at.

However, many would dispute whether a handpicked government advisory body has the mandate to control such a debate. The nature of any treaty process must be owned by Aboriginal people on the ground.

WHAT IS OUR STATUS?

Before going any deeper, it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and have a look at what exactly is our status as First Nations peoples.

Kombumerri philosopher Mary Graham says Aboriginal people “are reduced to negotiating on a very unequal basis to see what concessions can be wrung from a process, the terms of which have usually been pre-determined by colonial governments”.

“We have always been treated as a client of the welfare state.”

University of South Australia academic Dr Irene Watson (Tanganekald/Meintank) believes it is imperative for us to “decolonize the way we think about who we are today”. “We’re largely dealt with as one homogenous group that is being harvested for the colonial project,” says Dr Watson, an advocate for Indigenous peoples in international law. “It’s not going to work if we continue along that line, because it very much goes against who we are as First Nations peoples.”

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.Although the UNDRIP is not a legally binding agreement under international law, the Declaration is an indication of accepted international norms in terms of the rights and status of Indigenous peoples. Article three of the Declaration states that we have the right to determine our own political status.

According to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), this means Indigenous peoples have a choice “ranging from political independence through to full integration within a state”. Does this mean each Aboriginal nation can decide to establish themselves as states? When it comes to qualifying as states in international law, contenders must fulfil the following criteria:………

Treaties are about land rights, reconstruction and power sharing. This process has the potential to shift the social fabric of the society we live in as we seek to end the domination of one people by another. Some will claim treaties are instruments of a bygone era, but does justice have an expiry date?

Callum Clayton-Dixon is Editor of Brisbane Blacks, 3rd year journalism student & co-founder of the Brisbane Treaty Collective. http://intercontinentalcry.org/treaties-agreements-equals-22875/

April 30, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL