A UN representative is visiting Australia to investigate complaints that a government crackdown on child abuse in Outback settlements is violating Aborigines’ human rights.
UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, James Anaya, was requested by a coalition of Aboriginal groups, church leaders and social justice organizations to investigate a two-year-old federal crackdown on sexual abuse of minors in the Northern Territory, the coalition said in a statement yesterday.
Canberra suspended its anti-discrimination laws to implement its response to a Northern Territory government-commissioned report in 2006 that found child abuse was rampant in remote Aboriginal settlements.
The government then imposed strict measures in 2007 aimed at protecting children from abuse. Alcohol and hard-core pornography were banned from Aboriginal communities and indigenous inhabitants were forced to spend a portion of their welfare checks on family essentials like food. Activists say these measures violate human rights because they target Aborigines only.
“During my 12-day mission, I will investigate and report on the major challenges faced by indigenous peoples of the country in the enjoyment of their human rights,” Anaya said last week.
He was not immediately available for comment yesterday.
The US professor of human rights law arrived in Canberra on Sunday and was scheduled to meet federal officials yesterday before traveling to towns and an island Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory as well as other cities throughout the country, a UN statement said.
One of the coalition groups, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR), said it wanted Anaya to insist that human rights principles as set out in the UN Convention Against Racial Discrimination be applied.
Jessica Walker, a spokeswoman for Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, said yesterday the government planned to introduce legislation to the parliament in October to reinstate anti-discrimination laws.
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