THE AGE Rebuff no surprise to UN committee By SIMON MANN LONDON Friday 31 March 2000 The Federal Government's rebuff to the United Nations committee of experts who last week passed damning judgment on Australia's recent record on indigenous issues will upset, but hardly surprise, UN officials. The 18-member Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has been keen to visit Australia for two years to assess first-hand the impact of contentious legislation including the Howard Government's 1998 native title amendments and, more recently, mandatory sentencing provisions. UN protocol dictates that expert committees will not visit countries without the blessing of their hosts. Canberra, so far, has declined to issue an invitation. During their deliberations in Geneva the prospect of a visit was raised again. Mr Luis Valencia Rodriguez, who is Ecuador's permanent representative to the UN's New York assembly, also raised the prospect of the committee acting as a third party in negotiations between the Federal Government and Aboriginal groups on native title and other issues. But Mr Ruddock chose not to answer the point raised by Mr Rodriguez. Australia has also been tardy in submitting its two-yearly reports detailing measures to combat racial discrimination. The committee praised Australia for sending its minister and three senior advisers to Geneva. They also commended the $2.2 billion spent by Canberra on Aboriginal welfare and programs. But Ms Gay McDougall, a Washington DC-based lawyer, said the fact that Aborigines remained so markedly disadvantaged "makes you wonder about the effectiveness" of the programs and whether they were being properly monitored. One of the most damning testimonies presented in Geneva, however, came from one of the Government's own appointees, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr Bill Jonas. At a news conference on the eve of the committee's deliberations he said Australia was continuing to breach its obligations under the 1969 racial discrimination convention. After raising concerns over widespread injustices, Dr Jonas said: "The ultimate message I am delivering to you today ... is that the issues that I have focused on demonstrate a genuine lack of equality for indigenous people." -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce 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." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
