Aboriginal suffering extreme, says report
AAP -- Australia's Aborigines suffer levels of trauma usually found only among
people who are systematically tortured, subjected to genocide or sent to
concentration camps, according to a government report released today.
The report says almost two thirds of patients who seek treatment at the
country's Aboriginal medical services either have mental disorders or are
psychologically distressed.
The study of mental health in Australia was prepared by the Federal Health
Department and the nation's leading statistical health research body, the
Institute of Health and Welfare.
The severity of problems Aboriginal people endure is comparable only to the most
extreme circumstances, it said.
"In studies of non-indigenous communities, the extent of such traumatic
separation, loss, abuse, dislocation and dehumanization can only be found in
populations subjected to systematic torture, genocide, concentration camps or
urban or family violence," the report said.
It is one of three background papers prepared for federal, state and territory
health ministers to help set Australia's health strategies.
The papers cover not only of Australia's 353,000 Aborigines but also other
groups in the nation's population of some 18.8 million people.
The report follows recent criticism of conservative Prime Minister John Howard's
government by the United Nations for restricting Aboriginal land rights.
In March, the U.N. Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
accused the Howard government of introducing racially discriminatory land laws
which ignore the rights of Aborigines.
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