National 5:06 pm AEST July 26 2000 Dodson blasts Australia at world forum AAP -- The Australian Government had failed to meet its obligations under another key United Nations treaty, Aboriginal activist Mick Dodson today told an international conference. There was systemic discrimination against Australia's indigenous peoples in relation to every right in the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, he said. The claim follows representations to a UN committee last week by Aboriginal activists that Australia had breached its duties under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Mr Dodson, the former Social Justice Commissioner, was speaking today at the John Hopkins International Fellows in Philanthropy conference in Melbourne. A report compiled by more than 50 church and welfare organisations had identified the discrimination in a report, he said. Australia's compliance under the latest covenant to come under scrutiny would be reviewed by a UN committee between August 14 and 30. "It draws attention to the persistence of poverty in Australia, the general inadequacy of social security benefit levels and the introduction of a two-year waiting period for social security for newly-arrived migrants," Mr Dodson said in a statement. Victorian Council of Social Services chief executive Dimity Fifer said the federal government's failure to ensure adequate living standards, especially for indigenous Australians, was not acceptable to the community. -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ 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/
