The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/0003/31/text/pageone1.html Australia thumbs nose at UN Date: 31/03/00 By DAVID LAGUE and MIKE SECCOMBE A furious Howard Government has launched an unprecedented attack on a United Nations human rights watchdog after it condemned Australia's mandatory sentencing laws. And in a veiled threat to wind back Australia's efforts to show it is meeting international human rights standards, the Government will review Australia's reporting to UN committees that monitor compliance with international treaties and conventions. The Tuesday Cabinet decision has sparked an outcry from human rights groups, churches and legal experts, with reaction to the UN criticism being compared to the behaviour of authoritarian States. The Opposition has accused the Government of damaging Australia's international reputation by "spitting the dummy". The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) deeply embarrassed the Government last week by recording its "grave concern" over the "discriminatory approach to law enforcement" in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where the mandatory sentencing laws are in force. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, yesterday attacked the efficiency and impartiality of UN human rights committees, saying the Government had been "appalled at the blatantly political and partisan approach" of the CERD. "The Government approached the meeting seriously and in good faith, submitted detailed reporting on Australia's performance under the relevant convention and fielded a strong delegation, led by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Mr Ruddock," he said in a statement. "The committee's response was disappointing in the extreme. It largely ignored the significant progress made in Australia across the spectrum of indigenous issues. The committee's observations are little more than a polemical attack on the Government's indigenous policies. "They are based on an uncritical acceptance of the claims of domestic political lobbies and take little account of the considered reports submitted by the Government." The Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Laurie Brereton, said it was clear the Government intended to downgrade Australia's participation in UN treaty committees and compliance with international standards. "This is another step away from internationalism, away from the embrace of the world community and toward John Howard's vision of an insular, backward-looking Australia of old," he said. "What we have today is confirmation of the Howard Government's deep-seated contempt for international scrutiny of its human rights performance." The Associate Professor of Human Rights and International Law at the Australian National University, Professor Robert McCorquodale, said the Government's response to recent criticism was a gross overreaction. "If you sent that press release around the world, without saying where it came from, people would think it came from China or Iraq, or one of the other countries we usually criticise," he said. "It is tremendously sad the Government should react like the governments it normally criticises, and quite extraordinary that they should so overreact to a little criticism." It is understood that senior ministers began to lose patience with the UN human rights committees late last year when the CERD attacked the Wik law on native title as racist. Senior Government officials insist there is no intention to withdraw from any of the UN treaties and conventions that Australia has pledged to observe. But the review is a signal that the Government is strongly opposed to the present operation of the committees. Six UN committees monitor human rights, and Government officials claim that Australia is one of the few countries up to date with the reporting required to satisfy them. The officials say that some countries that are internationally condemned for their human rights abuses rarely make reports, or never report at all. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
