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	States must take effective action to guarantee the human rights of indigenous peoples by OHCHR, UN experts on Indigenous Peoples   Aug. 2018   States around the world must take effective action to guarantee the human rights of indigenous peoples, says a group of UN experts. In a joint statement marking International day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the experts say it is crucial that the rights of indigenous peoples are realised when they migrate or are displaced from their lands:   'In many parts of the world, indigenous peoples have become migrants because they are fleeing economic deprivation, forced displacement, environmental disasters including climate change impacts, social and political unrest, and militarisation. Indigenous peoples have shown remarkable resilience and determination in these extreme situations.   We wish to remind States that all indigenous peoples, whether they migrate or remain, have rights under international instruments, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.   While States have the sovereign prerogative to manage their borders, they must also recognise international human rights standards and ensure that migrants are not subjected to violence, discrimination, or other treatment that would violate their rights. In addition, states must recognise indigenous peoples rights to self-determination; lands, territories and resources; to a nationality, as well as rights of family, education, health, culture and language.   The Declaration specifically provides that States must ensure indigenous peoples rights across international borders that may currently divide their traditional territories.   Within countries, government and industry initiatives, including national development, infrastructure, agro-business, natural resource extraction and climate change mitigation, or other matters that affect indigenous peoples, must be undertaken with the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples, such that they are not made to relocate against their will. States must recognise that relocation of indigenous peoples similarly triggers requirements including free, prior and informed consent, as well as restitution and compensation under the Declaration.   We are concerned about human rights violations in the detention, prosecution and deportation practices of States. There is also a dearth of appropriate data on indigenous peoples who are migrants. As a result of this invisibility, those detained at international borders are often denied access to due process, including interpretation and other services that are essential for fair representation in legal processes.   We call on States immediately to reunite children, parents and caregivers who may have been separated in border detentions or deportations.   In addition, States must ensure that indigenous peoples migrating from their territories, including from rural to urban areas within their countries, are guaranteed rights to their identity and adequate living standards, as well as necessary and culturally appropriate social services.   States must also ensure that differences among provincial or municipal jurisdictions do not create conditions of inequality, deprivation and discrimination among indigenous peoples.   We express particular concern about indigenous women and children who are exposed to human and drug trafficking, and sexual violence, and indigenous persons with disabilities who are denied accessibility services.   We look forward to engagement in the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration regarding indigenous peoples issues.   On this International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we urge States, UN agencies, and others, in the strongest terms possible, to ensure indigenous peoples rights under the Declaration and other instruments, and to recognise these rights especially in the context of migration, including displacement and other trans-border issues'.   * The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ipeoples/emrip/pages/emripindex.aspx http://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/unpfii-sessions-2.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ipeoples/srindigenouspeoples/pages/sripeoplesindex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/Pages/IndigenousPeoplesIndex.aspx Visit the related web page
	Aboriginal leaders call for treaty, first nations voice enshrined in the Constitution by NITV News, NACCHO, Garma Festival, agencies Australia   July 2019   National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee: 'VOICE. TREATY. TRUTH.'   We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.   The Indigenous voice of this country is over 65,000 plus years old.   They are the first words spoken on this continent. Languages that passed down lore, culture and knowledge for over millennia. They are precious to our nation.   It's that Indigenous voice that include know-how, practices, skills and innovations - found in a wide variety of contexts, such as agricultural, scientific, technical, ecological and medicinal fields, as well as biodiversity-related knowledge.   They are words connecting us to country, an understanding of country and of a people who are the oldest continuing culture on the planet.   And with 2019 being celebrated as the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, it's time for our knowledge to be heard through our voic   For generations, we have sought recognition of our unique place in Australian history and society today. We need to be the architects of our lives and futures.   For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have looked for significant and lasting change.   Voice. Treaty. Truth. were three key elements to the reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. These reforms represent the unified position of First Nations Australians.   However, the Uluru Statement built on generations of consultation and discussions among Indigenous people on a range of issues and grievances. Consultations about the further reforms necessary to secure and underpin our rights and to ensure they can be exercised and enjoyed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.   It specifically sequenced a set of reforms: first, a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution and second, a Makarrata Commission to supervise treaty processes and truth-telling.   (Makarrata is a word from the language of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. The Yolngu concept of Makarrata captures the idea of two parties coming together after a struggle, healing the divisions of the past. It is about acknowledging that something has been done wrong, and it seeks to make things right.)   Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want their voice to be heard. First Nations were excluded from the Constitutional convention debates of the 1800's when the Australian Constitution came into force. Indigenous people were excluded from the bargaining table.   Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia's democracy.   In the European settlement of Australia, there were no treaties, no formal settlements, no compacts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people therefore did not cede sovereignty to our land. It was taken away from us. That will remain a continuing source of dispute.   Our sovereignty has never been ceded, not in 1788, not in 1967, not with the Native Title Act, not with the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown and should never be extinguished.   Australia is one of the few liberal democracies around the world which still does not have a treaty or treaties or some other kind of formal acknowledgement or arrangement with its Indigenous minorities.   A substantive treaty has always been the primary aspiration of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander movement. Critically, treaties are inseparable from Truth.   Lasting and effective agreement cannot be achieved unless we have a shared, truthful understanding of the nature of the dispute, of the history, of how we got to where we stand.   The true story of colonisation must be told, must be heard, must be acknowledged. But hearing this history is necessary before we can come to some true reconciliation, some genuine healing for both sides.   And of course, this is not just the history of our First Peoples - it is the history of all of us, of all of Australia, and we need to own it. Then we can move forward together. Let's work together for a shared future.   http://ulurustatement.org/ http://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-prize-recipients/2021-uluru-statement-from-the-heart/ http://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2019-theme http://www.naccho.org.au/naccho-honours-naidoc-week-2019-calling-for-voice-treaty-and-truth/ http://theconversation.com/a-worthwhile-project-why-two-chief-justices-support-the-voice-to-parliament-and-why-that-matters-120971 http://bit.ly/2OFpghA http://bit.ly/2YPAggm http://bit.ly/2ZN40rz   May 2017   Aboriginal leaders call for treaty, first nations voice enshrined in the Constitution.   Indigenous leaders from across Australia have called for an indigenous representative body to be enshrined in the nation's constitution and a process established working towards treaties between Indigenous peoples and local, State and Commonwealth Government.   The Constitutional Recognition forum held at Uluru attended by 250 Aboriginal leaders from across Australia called for a treaty commission to be established and for a truth and justice style commission to be set up.   Co-chair of the Government-appointed Referendum Council, Pat Anderson said, "In the discussions that we've had over the last six months across Australia, Aboriginal people have said clearly they want a treaty and a truth and justice commission, and a representative voice to Government".   "When the referendum council finishes its work on June 30, we've got a whole range of people who will bring this whole matter forward."   Cape York leader Noel Pearson said the delegates agreed that a parliamentary voice was needed "to have a practical impact on Aboriginal people's place in the democracy".   Les Malezer an Australian delegate to the UN permanent forum on Indigenous issues, said Indigenous people needed a genuine voice in parliament to be able to direct and inform policy designed specifically to apply to Indigenous peoples.   The council hasn't ruled out additional forms of symbolic acknowledgement of the 60 thousand-year history of First Australians and their rights.   Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its Indigenous peoples.   The 'Uluru Statement from the Heart' was developed over three days of consultation among 250 Indigenous leaders.   Uluru Statement from the Heart:   "We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:   Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs.   This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from time immemorial, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.   This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or mother nature, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.   How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?   With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia's nationhood.   Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.   These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.   We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.   We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.   Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.   We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.   In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future."   (Makarrata, a Yolgnu word for treaty)   http://www.referendumcouncil.org.au http://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/dialogues.html   Aug. 2018   The Australian Prime Minister says he will not call a referendum to establish an Indigenous voice to Parliament, despite Indigenous leaders saying the survival of their communities depend on it.   Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its Indigenous peoples.   There has broad support for the proposal of establishing an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution among thousands of Australians at one of the most important Indigenous gatherings, the annual Garma Festival in Arnhem Land this weekend.   Indigenous leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu told the crowd at the festival it was vital Aboriginal people "get our rights by constitution".   Dr Yunupingu, who has negotiated with eight prime ministers over decades as a clan leader, said 'the first governor of New South Wales Arthur Phillip didn't pass anything to Aborigines.. Can you see anything in the law.. where the Aborigines stand? They accounted for the kangaroos, the wallabies, the trees, the flowers, the birds. He merely rejected us. it didn't matter. There was some people, some dark people'.   The health and wealth of Indigenous Australians will continue to suffer without a voice to Parliament, said one of the Prime Minister's own Indigenous advisors. NPY Women's Council chief executive Andrea Mason said the last decade had been the "wasted years" in Aboriginal affairs.   "It's created a lot of disappointment, because there was opportunity to do it better ... we haven't been able to have the right goals and targets," she said.   She said a First Nations voice to Parliament could have provided "decisive" advice to the Government's overhaul of closing-the-gap targets.   Aboriginal people have been dealt a "cold slap in the face" due to policy failures and the rejection of the referendum push, a former federal Aboriginal affairs minister says. Former Liberal politician Fred Chaney took bureaucrats to task over what he described as a series of policy decisions that had driven people further into poverty.   "There is real poverty and hardship and a loss of capacity in remote communities," he told ABC News.   Over two decades, Garma has become one of Australia's key forums for debate on constitutional change. Hundreds of Indigenous leaders endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart last May 'a call for a new elected representative body'.   The Federal Government decided against holding a referendum to test the idea; instead a committee has begun a fresh round of consultations on the issue.   "What I think Indigenous people expected was that the Government would say: 'That's fantastic, let's sit down and talk about this,' Mr Chaney said. "Instead, they got a cold slap in the face, and I think that was a tragedy and a terrible mistake."   Djawa Yunupingu, a senior Gumatj leader and deputy chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, said Australia is not a united country, and its non-Indigenous people enjoyed a stolen sovereignty.   Djawa opened a forum at the Garma festival in northeast Arnhem Land with a speech on this year's theme of 'truth telling', surrounded by members of the multi-clan Dilak council.   He urged the festival attendees to think of his people when they enjoyed the dances and songs of the 'constitution in action'.   'Let's see if together we can find a pathway where we can all be included in the nation's constitution.. The truth is that we are not united in this country.. we are not comfortable, and we remain uncertain and troubled by this truth', Djawa said. 'Because we live side by side.. two people, two laws, one country'.   'The British sovereignty was enforced without care and in ignorance of the sovereignty that exists in us, and it sought to remove us from our rightful place in this country, this beautiful land of ours'.   'And the truth is that many of you have lived your lives enjoying this second sovereignty while we, the first people, from all points of the southern sky, have suffered'.   Aug. 2018   A truth and justice commission would provide a public space for our voices, says Jackie Huggins, co-chair of National Congress of Australia's First Peoples.   'Truth-telling is not just an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issue. Truth-telling is, and always has been, a national issue. Historically and contemporarily, much of Australia has been blind to the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.   Over a year ago, I was one of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates who gathered at Uluru to deliver the Statement from the Heart.   In the lead-up to this gathering, there were extensive consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the country. The Statement of the Heart was the culmination of these consultations. It contains the collective wisdom of first peoples from different nations, language groups and walks of life.   The Statement requested three things: a truth-telling process, agreement making and a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.   The theme of this year's Garma festival is truth-telling. This theme is timely. The time to tell the truth is long overdue.   A truth and justice commission would tell our stories; the atrocities of the last 230 years, yes, but also our stories from the beginning of time. It would provide a public space for our voices, our cultures, our stories, our grief, our histories, our trauma and our successes.   A truth and justice commission could fundamentally change the course of Australia's history. It could fundamentally shape our national identity, moral character and the direction we take as a nation.   How can Australia truly own its national identity without properly knowing and celebrating its history? Without facing up to its past and making reparations?   Australia is home to the oldest living continuing culture on Earth. Remains of first peoples have been dated to between 60,000 and 85,000 years old.   Thousands of Australians travel to Rome and Greece each year to learn about their ancient societies and visit historical sites. These ancient cultures existed around 3,000 years ago.   We have an incredibly rich national heritage on our doorstep but all too often it is ignored. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are often thought of as a 'problem' to be solved. While we face a number of challenges, our cultures are intricate, ancient, ongoing, evolving and, in some places, thriving.   Part of the truth and justice commission's mandate would be to unearth the cultural histories and traditions of various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations. 230 years of colonisation has led to significant loss of culture for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While some of this can never be retrieved, much remains to be revived and rediscovered through truth-telling.   We are here. We have survived. We form the basis of Australia's national and cultural heritage. And it is about time that our histories, cultures and stories are told and celebrated on a national level.   While no one alive today is to blame for the atrocities meted against us by their ancestors, many Australians feel a sense of sadness for what made this nation possible.   Every non-Indigenous person in this country today has benefited from our dispossession, whether they realise it or not. They are on our land.   Publicly acknowledging past wrongs and holding public space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples histories is a way for contemporary Australia to reconcile with its violent past, knowing that today's society is doing what it can to redress historical wrongs and move forward towards a more positive future.   Engaging with our history provides an opportunity for national reflection about the kind of nation we want to be. Learning from the mistakes of our past in order to prevent repeating them is a critical part of consciously shaping our future.   Truth-telling is also a necessary precondition to our healing from the past and moving forward.   Intergenerational trauma, often misunderstood or dismissed by non-Indigenous people, is all too real for my peoples. Sometimes I hear, 'Well that happened so long ago, isn't it time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples got over it?'   To that I say: the stolen generations officially ended in 1967, but continued in some places into the 1970s. That's 50 years ago. Many peoples living today were forcibly removed from their families or had family members forcibly removed. Their children watched their suffering, and inherited their grief and trauma.   This is not to mention dispossession, massacres, violence, rapes, discriminatory policies, mass incarceration, desperately overcrowded housing, racism, and countless other social wrongs.   How do you expect us to even begin the healing process if our circumstances are unknown and our stories are not publicly told and acknowledged?   Unaddressed trauma directly contributes to poor social outcomes. It is a source of great national shame that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are left with this burden, with little to no assistance.   I end with an appeal to non-Indigenous Australians. To my mind, it is simply unfair that in a country we have inhabited and protected tens of millenia, our voices are routinely and systematically silenced. But this is the reality in which we find ourselves.   Support our request for a truth-telling process. Not just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but for all Australians. Take a stand for our nation's future'.   * Jackie Huggins is a Bidjara and Birri-Gubba Juru woman from Queensland.   http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/08/04/how-long-do-we-have-wait-yolngu-leaders-demand-recognition-ancient-sovereignty   Oct. 2017   Aboriginal leaders call for treaty, first nations voice enshrined in the Constitution.   Indigenous leaders deeply disappointed by the Government rejection of Voice in Constitution. (NACCHO, agencies)   Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has dashed hopes for a referendum to establish a new Indigenous advisory body rejecting calls by Aboriginal Australians, five months on from the historic constitutional summit in Central Australia.   The Government has now formally rejected the key recommendation of the Referendum Council, a report it commissioned to consult widely with Indigenous people on constitutional change.   The decision has been met by widespread anger among Indigenous people from across the country who endorsed the landmark Uluru Statement from the Heart.   Mr. Turnbull was accused of being paternalistic and "egregious" in deciding to walk away from the key recommendation of the historic Uluru Statement from the Heart.   Pat Anderson, the co-chairwoman of the Referendum Council, said Mr Turnbull's decision was patronising. Ms Anderson, who led six months of dialogues with Indigenous communities, said Indigenous people had requested their own assembly of First Nations people to advise parliament.   "Number one of our terms of reference was to go out and ask Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people what we wanted," Ms Anderson said. "We told Mr Turnbull and he said 'Nope, we're not doing that'. Why even ask us?"   "It's been a kick in the guts for us all", she said.. "He knows what's best for us.. he's omniscient because he knows what the Australian public are going to going to vote at a referendum."   The Labor Opposition Leader has written to Prime Minister, saying he is "deeply disappointed" the Government has rejected "the views of the majority of people consulted."   "It strikes me that a unilateral decision of this kind runs contrary to your repeated promise to do things with Indigenous Australians, and not to them," he wrote. "It is not for us to dictate to First Nations Australians what form their recognition should take."   The Referendum Council's Noel Pearson described the decision as devastating for the Indigenous community.   "I think the Prime Minister has broken the First Nations hearts of this country, expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart', Mr Pearson said. 'He accused former PM John Howard of doing that in 1999 and he has done the same thing in relation to recognition of Indigenous Australian's.   Joe Morrison from the Northern Land Council said the Government had taken a step backwards.   'I think the Parliament's failed the nation in terms of providing the requisite level of leadership here', he said.   Josie Crawshaw, a child protection advocate and a delegate at Uluru, said she was deeply disappointed. 'While our children are languishing in the jails and our communities are poverty-stricken, they've just wasted 10 years of a conversation, and tens of millions of dollars, to shelve this', she said.   'That's a real kick in the guts for the Referendum Council and certainly a slap in the face of those proponents', Pat Dodson said.   Senator Dodson said he hoped the Uluru convention's other main proposal - for a treaties commission outside of the constitution was not also rejected. He pointed to reports earlier this decade that called for racial sections of the constitution to be removed, along with a statement acknowledging First Peoples.   Senator Dodson co-chaired an expert panel, which in 2012 suggested repealing a section that allows Parliament to make laws for racial groups, and scrapping another part that contemplates excluding specific races from voting.   Rod Little, co-chairman of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, said: 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been let down once again'. Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar called on the Federal Government to continue the conversation about constitutional recognition of Indigenous people.   Commissioner Oscar said since the arrival of the British on our shores in 1788, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have consistently called for greater control over our destinies, for the ability to live freely and equally, and for greater recognition of our rights as the First Peoples of this land'.   'This has remained an unresolved source of pain for our people. Today, nearly 230 years later, too many of our peoples are still not able to feel at home in the place we call our own'.   'The political systems and institutions of this country remain inadequate at providing us with a voice in the matters that affect our lives', she said.   Commissioner Oscar was deeply disappointed the Federal Government has rejected the Referendum Council's recommendation for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament.   'It is with great sadness that those in power have rejected our aspirations as reflected in the Uluru Statement. We have made it clear that only substance, not symbolism, will suffice.   Our people seek an answer to our powerlessness, not extra rights. We seek a resolution that is not confined by the parameters of government, but is driven by the will of our people. This is self-determination', Commissioner Oscar said.   'It was time to give meaning to the rhetoric of doing things with, not to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This starts with respecting our aspirations for change. We might disagree on how we get there, but we cannot afford to dismiss what our people have been calling for, for generations.   We must not forget that this issue speaks not only to the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples but to the aspirations of all Australians, about the kind of nation we hope to share together.   There is a lot of goodwill that rests deep in the heart of all Australians and how we go forward from here will mean a lot for the wellbeing of this country', Commissioner Oscar said.   http://www.acoss.org.au/supportfirstnations/ http://empoweredcommunities.org.au/media/empowered-communities-statement-on-constitutional-recognition/ http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/media/media-releases/referendum-rejection-profoundly-disappointing-constitutional-reform-must-advance http://www.theage.com.au/yoo-rrook-justice-commission http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/05/the-world-is-being-undone-before-us-if-we-do-not-reimagine-australia-we-will-be-undone-too http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront http://www.workingpapers.com.au/papers/barbarity-our-own-countrymen http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/ http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/the-point http://www.yyf.com.au/ http://coalitionofpeaks.org.au/priority-reforms/ Visit the related web page
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