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. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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. -- ********************************** '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/
