The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, NovembeÔ 22nd, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** Cruel and Inhuman. Govt's human rights disgrace Australia is again facing world-wide condemnation over its human rights record, with several reports this week detailing ongoing abuses against children, refugees and indigenous people. by Jules Andrews Criticism is mounting on many fronts, in submissions to the UN Committee Against Torture; a report by "Save The Children" blasting Australia over its treatment of indigenous children; and allegations that Australia's privately run refugee detention centres did nothing to protect children from sexual assault. This follows recent condemnations by other UN committees (Rights of the Child, Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Human Rights) and non-government organisations such as Amnesty International on some of these very issues. The main target of the criticism is the Howard Government, which seems to believe that human rights are the preserve of the rich and privileged, and continues to pursue policies that imprison and impoverish the most disadvantaged sections of Australian society. The UN Committee Against Torture is currently considering Australia's compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Australia became a signatory in 1989. A number of submissions claim that the Federal Government's official report to the Committee deliberately misrepresents the situation in Australia, ignoring and denying the existence of breaches to the convention in our society. In its submission, ATSIC (the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission) argues that the mandatory sentencing regimes in the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia and the conditions faced by Indigenous detainees in many parts of Australia may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. ATSIC has asked the committee to also consider Australia's ongoing high levels of incarceration, unsatisfactory observance of the duty of care and the lack of access to complaints processes for Indigenous people who may have suffered torture or other ill-treatment in the justice system. Another critic of the Government's rosy self-assessment is Chris Cunneen, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney Law School, who condemns the Government's report for its "lack of transparency and honesty". "Nowhere is there reference to mandatory sentencing nor to the Human Rights Commission report on racist violence which so extensively identified the problems with police treatment of indigenous people." While the convention does not define "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", Australia acknowledges that it includes "excessive punishments out of proportion to the crime committed, or treatment which grossly humiliates and debases a person". Professor Cuneen says, "We are now painfully aware of unjust punishments, particularly of Aboriginal people, that have arisen in the course of mandatory sentencing." Professor Cuneen also cites examples where allegations of police behaviour may breach the Convention: an Aboriginal woman in the NT who went to the police to report a rape, and instead was detained for 15 hours on an outstanding warrant for a minor offence; three children in Queensland who claimed that six police officers terrorised them by forcing them to strip naked, then threatened to cut off their fingers. Also taking up the issue of Indigenous children is the Save the Children Foundation. Australia is rated poorly in its annual review of nations, which will be given to all federal politicians in Australia and widely distributed throughout the UN. It draws attention to the shameful fact that indigenous children are 3.5 times more likely to die than their white neighbours. The report makes its case very clear: "Australia's long history of displacement, murder, exploitation, discrimination against indigenous peoples, forced separation of indigenous children from their families and the removal of traditional lands has placed indigenous children in a most disadvantaged position." It says that behind John Howard's rejection of an apology to indigenous people is his refusal to "acknowledge that their position requires special measures". The report calls for huge increases in spending on indigenous health and education, the repeal of mandatory sentencing laws, and a review of powers that allow police to target and harass Aboriginal youth. Australia's refugee detention centres have also come under the spotlight again this week over claims that management covered up evidence of child sexual assaults. An investigation is now under way by the Child Protection Agency after allegations that management at the Woomera Detention Centre in South Australia refused to allow a 13-year-old boy to be examined in hospital after an alleged rape, and refused to call in the police to investigate. The medical officer, who made the claims in a sworn affidavit, also says that nurses were pressured to falsify medical reports, and that files of people who were implicated in the assaults "disappeared". Another woman who claims to have been assaulted said she did not proceed with charges because she feared for her safety. The Woomera facility has been run under contract by an American company, Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) since 1997. However, a protocol to deal with allegations of child sexual abuse was not put in place until August 2000. The Woomera centre is another example of how an Australian Government is willing to trade-in human rights for private profit. Once again Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was amongst the first to wash his hands of any responsibility for events in the detention centres. His attitude is on par with that of John Howard, John Herron and the rest of the Federal Cabinet, who continue to arrogantly and petulantly dismiss any criticism levelled at them over human rights abuses in this country. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: Cruel & inhuman. Govt's human rights disgrace
Communist Party of Australia Thu, 23 Nov 2000 00:51:41 -0800
