Forwarded from Christine Howes: AMNESTY FOR ALL ABORIGINAL PRISONERS IN YEAR 2000 Statement by: Les Malezer, General Manager of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) FAIRA strongly supports the call for an amnesty in Year 2000 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners held in Queensland and Australian prisons. The numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners has not fallen, despite the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and endless government promises for direct action. There are so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison that the entire races of people remain virtually incarcerated and outcast - for example, one in five of male Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons will be imprisoned at least once in their lifetime. This high rate of imprisonment leads to a massive scale of endemic personal crisis, dysfunctional families, youth despair, unemployment, poverty and premature deaths. FAIRA acknowledges that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners might have committed crimes against Australian society, under Australian law. But many have not engaged in criminal activity and are in prison because of alcohol abuse, social misbehaviour and inability to pay fines. Many others are imprisoned because of injuries and deaths inflicted upon themselves, their families, their friends and their own community members. All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners are themselves victims of injustice and persecution - of racism, institutionalisation, cultural genocide and oppression. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are not a race of criminals, but the current system of law and order is perpetuating the evils of racism, and it is intensifying anger - no more, no less. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration is a legacy of the history of the British colonisation and the establishment of the Australian nation over the rights of the Indigenous Peoples. It began when people were being murdered on their lands, it continued when people were removed to reserves thousands of miles from their country, it became unendurable when children were stolen from their families. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be set free from the chains of history - they must be shown justice for the outcast status that has been placed upon them. The Aboriginal Amnesty in Year 2000 must be developed in conjunction with extensive and well-resourced programs of rehabilitation. In Queensland alone up to $50 million a year will be saved in the cost of police and prison services when Amnesty is given, and much more will be saved from the long-term capital costs of building more prisons. Such savings should be doubled or tripled to create and run rehabilitation programs which are aimed at the root causes of social disorder, misbehaviour and racial tension. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and groups should stand up and take responsibility for the rehabilitation of the imprisoned population - they should provide the absolute guarantees for change. And all prisoners, even non-Indigenous prisoners, can benefit from the emphasis and importance placed upon beneficial rehabilitation of prisoners and other offenders into the society at large. CONTACT: Les Malezer on mobile - 0419 710720 FAIRA Aboriginal Corporation - 3391 4677 14 October 1999 ------------------------------------------------------- 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/
