Antinuclear

United Nations forum supports Kimberley Land Council’s plea to save Aboriginal communities from closure

The submission, moved by the Kimberley Land Council’s chairman, Anthony Watson, and its chief executive, Nolan Hunter, at the forum in New York on Tuesday, said that Indigenous people in WA were facing “a discriminatory and race-based erosion of their rights and the attempted assimilation of Indigenous people into white Australia,” which risked their economic, social and cultural wellbeing and violated their rights under the international declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples……

In its submission to the UN forum, the land council said closing remote communities would only worsen the living conditions for Aboriginal children and their parents.

“History shows us that these policies have resulted in the gradual disintegration of cultural standards and governance; it has resulted in fringe communities in urban areas, in alcoholism and youth suicides, and in disempowerment,” it said.

“And now the Australian government is allowing it to happen again.”

The submission also criticised WA’s cultural heritage laws, which are currently before parliament for an update that critics say will further weaken protections and make it easier for Aboriginal heritage sites to be degraded by mining and development.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, and Professor Megan Davis, who was elected chairperson of the current session, were among those who supported the submission.

Watson, a Nyikina Mangala man, and Hunter, a Bardi Jawi man, said they hoped the international awareness garnered by taking the issue to the UN would have some influence over domestic policy.

“Our calls in Australia for engagement, discussion and empowerment have fallen on deaf ears,” Watson said.

“We are being ignored by all levels of government. The United Nations provides an international platform for us to raise awareness about these racist and discriminatory actions.’’……….http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/apr/23/un-forum-backs-fight-against-closure-of-remote-aboriginal-communities-in-wa

April 30, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL