Australia needs a genocide law
Media release by Michael Anderson
In a statement from Berlin, Michael Anderson, Convenor of the Sovereign
Union of Aboriginal Peoples of Australia and Native Title Claimant for the
Lightning Ridge country, said the recent decision of the Australian High
Court not to allow an appeal by Wudjularbinna Nunyarrima against a decision
by a Full Bench of the Federal Court that Australia does not have a law
against genocide, flies in the face of all civilised society because it
fails to address this most repugnant of criminal acts.
It is ironic that when Australia's 1951 ratification of the Covenant for
the Prevention and Punishment for the crime of genocide was formally
registered with the United Nations, the Australian governments collectively
agreed to the policy of "assimilation."
This policy required the removal of Aboriginal children from their families
and to foster/adopt them into white families to eradicate their
Aboriginality and turn them into white-thinking citizens, an act described
by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission as genocide.
The High Court decision is judicially unsound because the Court's refusal
to accept the appeal was influenced by political considerations.
Since the 1985 Australia Act, Australia has had the legal capacity to
create its own legal precedents without the influence of British dicta.
Australia's refusal to create legislation putting the crime of genocide in
its body of law warrants international criticism and condemnation. The
United Nations must adopt stronger actions against countries like Australia
if they persist in refusing to enact legislation to provide effective legal
protections for citizens' human rights.
I will campaign in the United Nations and Europe to gain the rights my
people have been denied for so long. The world must know and will know. My
people have suffered too long. The suffering must end.
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Michael Anderson: phone #49-0173-5166801, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For details of the Wudjularbinna Nunyarrima case: Ellie Gilbert, phone
#61-408331239, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Any other queries: Diet Simon, phone #49-0171-416 70 39, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
fax #49-221-383393.
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