The Sydney Morning Herald
Letters: Human rights is not just a game of cricket
Date: 31/08/2000
The decision by John Howard, Daryl Williams, Alexander Downer and Philip
Ruddock (the latter's decision to continue to wear an
Amnesty International badge is now a sick joke) to downgrade Australia's
role in the United Nations' monitoring of international human
rights is typically petulant, narrow minded and reactionary.
One has a clear vision of little Johnny being given out lbw in a game of
backyard cricket and storming away, bottom lip protruding, with
bat and ball firmly tucked under his arm.
But this isn't backyard cricket, Prime Minister. Nor is it simply a
matter of domestic politics. This decision severely harms Australia's
international reputation and deprives Australia of any moral authority
to take any stance on, or even comment on, human rights abuses
and violations in other countries.
It will also give encouragement and support to pariah states, like
Myanmar, China and North Korea (the list goes on), who likewise shun
UN criticism of their human rights abuses.
How about acting with some maturity and dignity and try addressing the
issues which are the subject of UN criticism. Contrary to what
Mr Williams believes, these issues are not minor or marginal,
particularly if you are an Aborigine and have the misfortune to reside
in
either the Northern Territory or Western Australia.
Michael Wigney, Sydney.
So, a United Nations committee of highly dubious make-up and motivation
has attacked Australia on its reluctance to allow this country's
national sovereignty to be further impugned. Labor's Laurie Brereton and
ATSIC's Geoff Clark, much quoted representatives of
Australia's de facto leftist bloc, have bleated about human rights and
about the c. 170 UN protocols and covenants which the mainly
Keating/Hawke governments used to tie us to a system of committees often
composed of Chinese and Cubans whose own governments
would hardly know a human right if it bit them.
What good did these committees do in Rwanda and Kosovo? Very little, yet
they attack soft targets like a democratic Australia which has
put upwards of $20 billion into Aboriginal aid since about 1980.
When our ALP/union/media/minorities/republican bloc can't frustrate
Howard's Government by the usual Senate (et al) tactics, it turns to
the UN with horror stories of how bad we Australians are.
And it doesn't give a damn how much this country is damaged, it's all
about getting rid of Howard and creating a reconciled,
multicultural, socialist paradise tied umbilically to engineered UN
committees.
John Cosgrove, Watsons Bay.
It would not surprise me in the least if the IOC makes a last-minute
announcement of a new sport for this year's Olympics - Shooting the
Messenger.
And after observing our recent performances in the Della Bosca affair,
where the messenger was shot for waking up opposition
strategists to the fact that they were on a dead loser putting all their
eggs in the GST-bashing basket, and now the Federal Government
(with State cheerleaders) assassinating the UN's envoy, there is little
doubt that the medal results in this sport will be:
Gold: Australia; Silver: Australia; Bronze: Australia.
You beauty! Go for Gold, Australia.
David Colfelt, Berry.
Winston Churchill once suggested that democracy was a noisy,
quarrelsome, inefficient and chaotic form of government but compared
with all the others it was worth defending at all costs.
I feel much the same way about the United Nations. As an organisation it
may be far from perfect but a world without some body such
as the UN - which attempts to represent the rights of ordinary people,
bring organisations and governments to the table rather than
opposite sides of modern weaponry, and promote a future where happiness
to the greatest number of people may indeed be possible -
will always be a worse option.
It follows that the Howard government's position on UN committees, and
their chaotic inconvenience, is a slap in the face of the ideals of
the generations which fought to bring it into being.
Lee Brown, Petersham.
So according to Daryl Williams, UN committees only focus "on minor
marginal issues" when dealing with countries like Australia.
Perhaps we have forgotten why the CERD Committee criticised Australia:
one in five adults in prison are Aboriginal, nearly one in two
juveniles in detention centres are Aboriginal, and we have legal systems
which require the incarceration for 12 months of those found
guilty of stealing $15 worth of property, or of children who steal pens
and biscuits (and then die while in custody).
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is incapable of even apologising to
the stolen generations. Is it really the UN that, according to
Williams, "don't seem to have their priorities right"?
Chris Cunneen, Institute of Criminology, Sydney.
Last time I looked Australia was a democracy where individuals valued
their freedom and civil liberties, so perhaps someone can correct
me if I'm wrong. It seems our elected government is telling me that I
don't need a bill of rights, I don't need the ability to appeal to
United Nations conventions on human rights, but I do need an army that
can shoot me if I protest.
Peter Bradley, Dulwich Hill.
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