PRESS STATEMENT Aboriginal campaigner slams Australian human rights record Bonn, Germany, 20 July - - An Aboriginal rights campaigner says Australia should seriously consider withdrawing from the United Nations if it persists in its condemnation of the UN's human rights organs. "They can't have their cake and eat it too," says Michael Anderson, in a statement released here. He was commenting on remarks made last week by the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer that "we are not going to cop it any longer." In a prominent Australian current affairs television programme on the United Nations Human Rights Committee's scrutiny of human rights complaints from individuals and organisations in Australia, he called it "alarming indeed." In a statement from Bonn, Germany, Anderson expressed grave concern for Human Rights in Australia under the current Howard Government. Anderson (Nyoongar-Ghurradjong-Murri, Ghillar) is to make submissions to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples this week in Geneva, the second time he's addressing a UN body this year. In March CERD, the Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, found Australia racist on several counts. "The government side were running around like headless chickens at that hearing," Anderson recalls. Its findings caused a stir in the media, and Government warned it would reconsid "Surely in this modern world peoples have a right to have protections against tyrannical governments," Anderson says in his statement. "If Australia has a human rights record 'second to none' then what do they have to fear from international scrutiny?" Anderson, claimant for the Lightning Ridge Native Title Claim, which he has just successfully defended in the Federal Court against a challenge from farmers, says he'll be raising in Geneva issues such as the right of self-determination, cultural, religious and political freedoms, and the man "Another matter that will be raised is the corrupt activities being promoted by State and Territory Governments in Australia under the banner of 'Indigenous Land Use Agreements' being used to deny Aboriginal people a legal recognition of their 'Land title.'" "One of the major attractions for Aboriginal people to enter into the land use agreement is the offering of money up front, and the fact that the negotiators, both black and white, are coercing the people by stating that if they go to court and wait, they may loose, and that this will then re Anderson, a trained lawyer, says if this were to happen in the normal course of legal contract negotiations, a court would strike it down as illegal coercion. "Most Aboriginal people would not be aware of this. Just look at the Ranger Agreement," he says. "As for the Cabinet's proposal to deny individual complaints to the United Nations against human rights violations, the Australian government is so far out of step from the rest of the world that if they persist in their condemnation of the UN's Human Rights Organs, then Australia should seri "No matter what Cabinet does, don't underestimate the resolve of Aboriginal people to fight." Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, phones #49-(0)228- 5387600, #49-0173-5166801 Attached is an open letter by Anderson to Alexander Downer, the Australian foreign minister. OPEN LETTER Mr. Alexander Downer Minister for Foreign Affairs Parliament House CANBERRA. July 17th, 2000. Dear Mr. Minister, I note with keen interest that you and your Government are proposing to re= move the ability for Individuals and/or organisations to make complaints = about Human Rights abuses in Australia to United Nations Human Rights Org= ans. A proposal that reeks of a dictatorship through the right of a democr= a To deny and condemn scrutiny certainly suggests that you have something to= hide. And why should this be such a major problem for a country that esp= ouses that its record on Human rights is second to none. A rather tongue i= n cheek statement considering this proposed action, don=92t you think. I am absolutely bewildered that your government should think that it is no= t to be subjected to international scrutiny and condemnation arguing that= as a sovereign Nation you are devoid of such actions. If this is your sta= nd, then you must also stand aside from any world action that the United = N A study of Australia's actions in the international community to prevent a= ny form of scrutiny of Human Rights in this country is quite revealing to= say the least. One example is Australia's reaction and campaign to preven= t the former Federal Council for Aboriginal And Torres Strait Island (FCA= A Another matter that would be concerning the Australian Government is its f= ear that should there be any international scrutiny, it may be found that= Australia's legislative largesse never wrote the Australian Immigration = Policy. Rather, it was the South African Natal Act (Immigration) that was = a Unfortunately Mr. Minister, Australia is part of a real world that include= s multi-culturalism, within which, people's insecurities are sure to be e= xploited by the few who are unable to deal with 'otherness' and 'differenc= e'. I do hope that you don't fit into this small mould. Your government's apparent support for the ideologies of "Hansonism" that = now pervades the Australian mindset and the political environment within = Australia is a real concern, but not surprising considering Australia defi= ned "National Interest". It is this that now sheds light on the real issu= e Michael Anderson Convenor Sovereign Union of Aboriginal Peoples of Australia. Native Title Claimant for the Nyoongar Ghurradjong Murri Native Title Clai= m (Lightning Ridge). 040-8331239 email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************* 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
